Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach Take Two (DISCONTINUED)
by Corporal Tommy
Summary: This is a rewrite of Thorthemighty321's story, Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach only this time, with some help from me. So you can already tell how this is going to turn out. (Not to be continued until further notice)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, here we go, attempt numero two at this. Major differences in the beginning but the story is going to have a similar flow. Let's get started. Also, this will be a Co-Op fic with Generalfieldmarshal.**

 **Also, I don't own anything, save the OCs.**

 **SECTION 0: Disappearance**

 **Strike Witches Universe**

 **Mid-1944**

The Imperial Ysterplaat Space Battleship _Phobetor_ was gliding through space, the large two and half kilometer long battleship was moving in concert with a cruiser, the one kilometer long _Seleucia_ and two destroyers, each eight hundred meters long, the _Barbara_ and _Antioch_ were nearby. Behind them were the utterly smashed remains of two Federation Light Cruiser Divisions and a Heavy Cruiser Division, it had been almost way too easy. It just showed how bad their enemy were at combat in space.

The battleship itself had a predatory look to it, a sharp narrowed point that expanded into a somewhat swollen midsection that went into a graceful curving aft portion. The ship's three engine cones emitted a faint but noticeable amount of purple light, while it's hull bristled with energy weapon emplacements, missile batteries, sensor arrays, also placed along its hull was meticulously placed thruster ports and countermeasure launchers. It's midsection contained several hangers that held nearly five dozen starfighters and over a dozen dropships. To top it all off, the plasma shield system that the battleship possessed could stop a direct hit from a thirty-kilogram ferrous slug traveling at 1.4% of light-speed and that would only reduce the shielding by only five percent at the most. Bottomline, the _Phobetor_ was a terrifying sight to see on the battlefield.

The _Phobetor_ glided into orbit around the moon of the third planet in system. Coming into the orbit of a blue-green marble that hung scenery in space the craft came to a stop some twenty kilometers above the north pole of the moon, then from a launch bay came three cylindrical craft, each one was thirty-seven meters long, with two above body wings that were fifteen meters across and each supported an engine pod that glowed a muted and baffled red, and they were fifteen meters tall. Each dropship contained thirty crack Special Operations troops and the dropships themselves each had a crew of three, plus they were lightly armed with several powerful Neuroi bolt emitters under their chin, the rate of fire these bolt emitters could put out was on the order of 3,000 bolts per minute and they hit hard too. It didn't help that these dropships were armored like tanks, with armor capable of stopping a 12.7mm API round dead in it's tracks and with some angling could stop Karlslandian 13mm machine gun fire. The advanced countermeasures that these craft had was just extraneous features that put an exclamation point on the statement these craft put out.

The dropships plunged into the atmosphere, their hulls becoming enveloped in fire as atmospheric friction heated their hulls. Entry tracks traced across the sky as they descended, the interior of the dropships didn't even warm up slightly as they plunged down toward the ground, the interior of the troop bays changed from a dim white light, to a harsh red light. The troopers stopped what they were doing, the grins and jokes were no longer traded, in their place final equipment checks and loading of weapons. These soldiers had been told of their target and that she was needed alive, the squad she was in weren't part of the objective, command could careless if they were wiped out or sent running with their tails between their legs.

Far below, a sonic boom rumbled over the ground as the dropships dropped below the speed of sound, their muffled engines barely emitting any sound or light, that combined with the fact that apart from really one area they were pitch black, they were undetected by nearly everything in their path with one case occurring that they flew right over a Liberion Defense Battalion and didn't even raise the alarm.

The first clue that anyone had that there was dropships bearing down on them, it was for one particular unit that was behind enemy lines, which had setup camp near the edge of a clearing; the unit's designation was SAS Squad No. 45 aka Hell Raiser. The wings came to a vertical position and the engine's increased power and easily arrested the forward motion of the dropships and brought them into a hover. The members of the squad in question were just beginning to realize they were under attack when the dropships opened fire, torrents of red bolts sliced through the air churning up the ground and forcing all members of the team to get to cover or get cut down of which two members weren't quick enough in that regard, while from the dropships themselves came the Special Operations troops and after they started laying down heavy covering fire, the dropships let up a little in the amount of fire, but considering how many enemies were shooting at Hell Raiser there wasn't much they could do despite the slight reprieve that the reduction of fire allowed.

To put it simply, within the span of two minutes, the Neuroi had one of the best damn SAS squads pinned down and under immensely heavy _and_ accurate fire.

 **Tracking: ...Captain Amirah Aisyah "Lady of Knives" Sulaiman**

 **1944**

 **Occupied Europe**

"Hold your ground boys!" I shouted as I fired my machine gun at the Neuroi forces. The first few rounds from my MG42 surely went wide, but the familiar kick of my weapon quickly helped steady my aim.

"Where the hell did these bastards come from?!" Corporal Tanner shouted as he fired his Sten Gun. The neuroi were coming in the doves and we fiercely trying to hold our position but the volume of fire was unrelenting.

"Now is not the time Tanner! Just keep shooting!" Sergeant McDonald shouted,

"Frag Grenade going out!"

"Cover me! I am reloading!" Corporal McGregor hollered.

"Oh my god, there's gotta be a million of them out there!" Private Everton shouted in shock.

"Keep your wits about, Everton! We need to hold our ground as long as possible!" McDonald shouted.

"ENEMY STRAFING RUN! TAKE COVER!" McGregor shouted as I turned to the sky to see one of the Neuroi fliers turned their attention towards us and fired their guns at us, unleashing a lethal torrent of Neuroi energy bolts that came at us in such numbers it looked almost like a Neuroi beam. Everyone dived for cover but soon it was clear that some of us were not fast enough as screams of pain were heard.

"AAHHH~!" I heard Private Jackson scream in pain, I spared a glance in his direction and grimaced. A stream of Neuroi bolts had ripped the entirety of his left arm clean off, blood was pouring from the wound, a medic appeared next to him and tried to stem the bleeding. Only for a burst of Neuroi bolts to hit him as well square in the chest, he toppled backward lifeless.

"Shit! They got Stevenson!" Everton shouted.

"Return fire!" I shouted to rally the squad. We needed to get our act together, otherwise the Neuroi were going to roll right over us with ease. However it was not enough as I watch my squad members fall one after another. It was only now did I realize what the neuroi were trying to do, they were trying to separate me from the rest of my squad as I found myself pinned with my squadmates out of reach. It was then when I saw a device get thrown towards me. It hit the ground, rolled a little and then went-off with a brilliant white flash and a thundering overpressure, to my surprise there was no pain, but I couldn't tell which way was up! What the hell was that thing?!

I heard shouts, more gunfire, and cries of pain as I tried desperately to shake the cobwebs out of my head and to clear the spots from my eyes. I had just succeeded in doing that when I looked up and saw six Neuroi soldiers rushing my position, well that was stupid on their parts but as Napoleon Bonaparte once said "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." as I unsheathed one of my knives, I glanced over my shoulder and saw that over half of my squad was lying lifeless on the ground and the survivors were behind hardcover giving what covering fire that they could. Which sadly wasn't much, I could tell that they were all wounded to some degree, which meant that once I was dead… something I was certain would occur, because while I could easily take on an entire regular Neuroi Army or Marine squad in hand-to-hand combat and walk away whistling, against six Neuroi Special Operations Soldiers, particularly from their Space Force judging by the unit patch, in hand-to-hand combat I would probably at best be able to kill four of them and the other two would certainly kill me. Then they would roll right over the remains of my team. _Not if I can help it._ I thought.

"McDonald! You still alive?" I hollered as

"Ma'am, I am still here!" McDonald shouted back.

"Get what's left of the squad out of here!" I shouted as I sprang back in shock as the lead Neuroi Spec Ops trooper unsheathed a serrated combat knife that was probably at least twelve inches of lethal steel and lunged at me. I parried the blow off my Ka-Bar and counterattacked.

"What about you ma'am?! We can't leave you behind like this!" McDonald replied utterly shocked at my proposition.

"Now's _not_ time for this discussion Sergeant! You just get the remains of the team the fuck out of here! Enough brave fighters have already died and I would prefer if just one more life is lost to save the lives of four others!" I shouted back as I ducked under the strike of one enemy and then buried my Ka-Bar to the hilt in the thing's chest, I twisted the knife and yanked it clear. The Neuroi Operator dropped to the ground lifelessly.

"But-" McDonald began before I cut him off sharply. "THAT'S AN ORDER SERGEANT MCDONALD! GET THE REMAINS OF THE TEAM OUT OF HERE!" I snapped before ducking as a powerful blow that likely would have knocked me out whooshed over my head a split-second later. Panting with the constant exertion from fighting five well trained operatives, I flipped my knife around into a reverse grip and slashed diagonally only to let out a slight groan of dismay as my target expertly blocked the blow.

"Yes ma'am." McDonald said sounding defeated, knowing that now that was taken care off, I leaped back and effortlessly dodged three consecutive blows that would have had at very least dazed me if not outright knock me out. But I could tell that these operatives were holding back for some reason, then the revelation struck me. They wanted me alive! Even as I tried to figure out why that was, it allowed one enemy operative to effortlessly tag team me. One operative came at me with a knife, I managed to block it, then suddenly white hot pain erupted in my torso and I doubled over from the force of the blow. I cursed my inattentiveness for it had allowed an enemy operative to smash me in the midsection with the butt of his rifle, but that was all the enemy needed, a single harsh blow to throw me off balance. Before I even knew what was happening a pair of powerful hands suddenly forced me to my knees while another set quickly disarmed me in nearly every sense of the word.

Next thing I knew my hands were strapped together by something and it didn't feel like rope. _Crap, these must be those 'zip cuffs' that those Poselentsy Federation Specs Ops guys have talked about. Which means that my chances of escaping have well and truly gone down to zero._ I thought grimly as I was roughly hauled to my feet. "Alright, move it!" one of the Neuroi soldiers growled before prodding me sharply in the back with his rifle.

Dejectedly I slowly walked toward one of the imposing dropships. They simply excluded a sense of power and that trifling with one would be bad news. Which was something I knew from experience having been on the receiving end of one the monsters now. Just before I was heralded onto the dropship I succeeded in taking one last look around the battlefield and noted that there was at least twenty dead Neuroi operatives, which meant that while the best squad in the SAS may have been completely gutted in one engagement. They had certainly taken a sizeable bite out of the enemy force. "Hunt down the survivors and wipe them out, all of them." I heard a Neuroi growl which was followed by one of them replying "Yes sir! 2nd and 3rd platoons! On me, we've got the remains of an SAS squad to wipe out! Make sure to put those that you find who aren't going to make it out of there misery!"

Then I stepped up into the dropship's belly. It was a rather wide affair with surprisingly lots of room for at least thirty soldiers or if they wanted to push it, maybe a Plaat Scout Tank or Recon Vehicle if they opted for a tight squeeze. It actually made me pretty grateful that the Imperial Ysterplaat Space Navy rarely got involved in campaigns on Earth, because if they did well they would roll right over them pretty quick.

As the dropship soon headed into the space, I took one last glance back to Earth, I could see McDonald and the rest of the survivors disperse into the forest. I hope that they make it out alive. Then suddenly the engine noise increased subtly but noticeably and then with a lurch the craft shot into the sky and the troop bay doors closed. The feeling of acceleration was immense as the dropship rocketed skyward, it made me wonder where was it taking me. One thing then came to mind, the Plaats are being unnaturally tame with me. Usually they would be aggressive and would beat me up but then again I figured, I had never fought elements of their Space Navy before so it stood to reason that they probably had more stringent regulations and protocols in terms of handling prisoners of war when compared to their air forces, navies, marine corps, or god forbid there army. Still it was a little strange.

That's when suddenly the outside engine noise dropped off considerably reducing the noise from a muted thundering growl to just a quiet rumble that seemed to encompass everyone and everything in the dropship. It was disconcerting another thing that quickly caught my attention was that the tug of gravity suddenly felt a little different, it made me wonder what the hell was going on here.

"Well, say goodbye to your old life, Lady" The soldier next to me said, pretty politely actually. It was confusing actually, what the hell did he mean by that? Still I felt another subtle change, a pinging that resounded through the hull of the craft as if it was transitioning from environment to another. The engine pitch changed again and a mechanical whirring sound reverberated through the hull and then with a heavy sounding _thud_ the dropship came to stop, landing on what had to be a landing gear of some kind. Then the troop bay doors opened and I saw a sight that I would never forget.

A vast hangar sprawled out before the hatchway. Numerous technicians and specialists I assumed were going about their tasks that ranged from performing what had to be maintenance on dropships and strange craft that looked something like a Federation F-15E but it had no vertical or horizontal stabilizers but it had four wings, two lower and two upper that from the front would likely vaguely look an 'X', each wing terminated in what had to be an engine pod, just from appearance alone it was clear that those craft were fighters and that they could probably run rings around _anything_ that we had.

However as I stepped off the dropship, I was quickly ushered off the hanger and into a long hallway. How long I walked down that corridor I don't know, but judging by how as we approached our destination the amount of activity seemed to be going up considerably. It made me wonder what was going on. "I wonder what's going to happen to me." I whispered.

My handler snorted. "You'll find out in a little bit, but I can assure you it's nothing too unpleasant." he said. It was little wonder, before I knew it I was forced to change out of my uniform into light grey fatigues, they were rather light but they felt alright I suppose. Next thing I knew I was ushered into a fairly large chamber, it was featureless and bare, being stark white. Still after everything I had gone through tonight, it felt like it was a good a time as ever to lie down and fall asleep.

 **Third Person POV**

"Looks like she's falling asleep." One Neuroi operator of the strange device they were about to use, codenamed: Racsu, the machine was found on a planet that was some two hundred light-years from the Sol System. The most incredible feature of this device was it's ability to punch a hole between the dimensional barriers and through the timestream. Problem was it consumed a tremendous amount of energy, plus the exact science with how the damn thing _actually_ worked was barely understood.

But, they knew it could do four things. Take an object from their current dimension and place it another, take an object from their current time frame and put it in either the past, present, or future of said timeline in another dimension, even put said object into a different location than their starting point, and most incredibly even age a person to a degree by a couple of years. All-in-all it was incredibly useful, problem was that they didn't know if it worked on live test subjects until about two weeks ago. Still now it was time to use it for the first time.

"Good thing she's asleep, first time we fired this thing it caused quite the light show." a second tech replied.

"Let's get this show started." Stated a third. "Temporal, Dimensional, and geographic coordinates locked in?" he continued.

"Yes sir! Temporal coordinates set to the year Twenty-five-twenty-seven, third month of the year, third day in the month." The first technician replied quickly after looking over his displays.

"Dimensional coordinates are locked-in. Set to the so called 'Forerunner Dimension'." The second tech replied.

"Confirmed geographical coordinates are locked in as well." A fourth tech responded sharply.

"Engage." The third tech said before pushing the button. Brilliant purplish-golden light danced across the chamber. Amirah inside began to stir and rubbed her eyes before suddenly the light built considerably and then with heavy _bawooom_ that thundered in one's chest, the light flashed brilliantly before disappearing completely, of Amirah there was no sign. Thus with the push of a button, one of the most deadliest witches in the Allied Forces had simply disappeared without a trace.

 **Halo Universe**

 **0500 Hours, March 3rd, 2527 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach**

 **Military Reservation 01478-B**

 **Tracking: Amirah Aisyah binti Sulaiman**

"WAKE-UP TRAINEE!" A thundering commanding voice bellowed harshly. Amirah snapped awake in an instant, other men and women of varying ages were groaning as they were rudely woken up, from the looks of it she was in a barracks with your bog standard bunks. Amirah leaped out of bed and realized with a start that this must be the drill sergeant. Which meant that this was likely the start of a _long day_.

 **How was that for a first chapter? Oops sorry forgot to introduce myself, I am Generalfieldmarshal, the second writer in this story. Well, looks like Amirah is in a completely new ball game. I hope you stay tuned as there is more to come.**

 **Until then, keep calm and pass the ammunition.**

 **Note: Both Thor and I don't own anything related to Strike Witches and the Halo Series besides our OC characters and equipment. That is all.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Alright, here we go. We're still following Amirah here. But we've had a major time skip here. Anyway, we're now going to cover Amirah's first ever combat deployment against the enemy.**

 **Another thing of note, is that the UNSC is considerably more advanced than in canon. Still outclassed in a lot of respects by the Covenant Empire, particularly in space but on the ground the UNSC can pound-for-pound fight the Covenant on an even footing at least the normal forces can, but the ODSTs and Spartans? Well it's like clubbing seals particularly for the Spartans.**

 **Now in order to head-off any questions. When the timestamp says the date and time followed by Military Calendar there's a very good reason. The problem that mainly presents itself when your organization like the UNSC is that not every planet will be like Earth with a 24/365 day/night cycle and year length. Thus Military Calendar is simply the Gregorian Calendar used on Earth with a 24-clock to make things easier in terms of coordination and such.**

 **0750 Hours, May 12th 2528 (Military Calendar)**

 **Deployment: +01 Hours:35 minutes:15 seconds**

 **(PFC Sulaiman Mission Clock)**

 **Ahiri System, Ahiri III, Phaquri Continent, City of Waynah**

Amirah moved quickly in concert with five other United Nations Space Command Marines, a good sized Fireteam. Codenamed Fireteam: Gold, the six man team was composed of one Rocketeer, three Riflemen, one Grenadier Rifleman, and a Designated Marksman. There objective along with there sister Fireteam, Fireteam Indigo also composed of six UNSC Marines with the difference being that instead of the Rocketeer and a Designated Marksman they had an Automatic Rifleman and a Demolitions Expert, was to knockout a Covenant Type-26 Ultra-Heavy Long Range Plasma Cannon more commonly known as the Mega Turret. This was a weapon capable of firing three bolts of superheated plasma out to a range of sixty kilometers and each plasma bolt was capable of boiling through ninety centimeters of Titanium-C Battleplate which was composed of a sandwich Titanium-A, Tungsten, and a thin sheet of Boron Carbide with ease, plus anything within fifty meters from the point impact whether it be Titanium-C, Concrete, Polymers, or Flesh it all simply vaporized leaving a glassy smooth surface behind at the impact point. Thus, that thing needed to be destroyed or disabled at all costs, mainly because it was proving to greatly hinder the UNSC having thoroughly thrashed two UNSC Frigates already and wiped out a good portion of a UNSC Tank Company, more units would be decimated by that thing if they didn't kill it.

Each Marine was clad in a 550 pound powered exoskeleton that increased not only the strength of each soldier and thus the amount of equipment each one could carry, but also the endurance and to a degree the durability of each individual.

The powered exoskeleton designated the M-2505 Wolverine Combat Powered Exoskeleton has a very tough construction, it's outer armor plates was composed of a hard shell of Titanium-C two inches thick and underneath that was a thick kevlar-diamond weave with carbon nanotube reinforced undersuit that had immense strength and also great flexibility for the outer armored body suit the fact that the armored body suit also had fire-proofed material in its weave gave the wearer the ability to use it when fighting fires, underneath that outer armored body suit is a hydrostatic gel layer, which combined both the abilities of the earlier ballistic recoil absorbing gel layer and the heat-reduction gel layer of the Marine and Army BDUs of the 2300s but it's also conformed to the wearer's shape and body temperature and could be pressurized to different pressures which could allow an individual wearing the armor to survive a fall from the top of ten story building. The inner skinsuit was made of a moisture absorbing synthetic material linked to an environmental computer which was linked to the neural lace, however this particular feature in UNSC Army and UNSC Marine Corps Power Armor since they were first introduced in the year 2405. The strength enhancing capabilities of the Wolverine comes from a combination of Carbon-nanotube actuators and ultra-quiet micro-servomotors allowed the user to flip back onto it's wheels by one's self a 900 pound All-Terrain Vehicle and working together a full squad of soldiers clad in the armor can right an M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle.

In terms of appearance, the heavy-duty armor plates covering the torso, shoulders upper arms, forearms, shins, thighs, legs, and boots. The helmet provided solid protection against anything save milspec rounds, it had a large clear visor that extended from just above the eyebrow line, to the bottom of the helmet which was just below the the chin, it also provided a wide field of view. The helmet also provided an advanced heads-up display that had ammo count, number of grenades, biomonitors, tactical map, and night vision capability, plus advanced filtration systems. The armor was powered by a micro-fusion reactor, which were first invented in the year 2305 but made practical to construct in large numbers in the year 2379. The armor also had magnetic strips at various points for securing weapons to the armor, with those being located on the back and hips, plus a couple of pouches for storing items like grenades. It was also painted in Olive Drab which signaled that these soldiers belonged to the Marine Corps, if they were in the Army it would have been painted a dusty-tan color.

Unfortunately, the greatest downside of the Wolverine Power Armor was the fact that while it was incredible at stopping projectile weapons it was mediocre _at best_ when it came to stopping Plasma blasts, the armor could handle three to four if you were lucky five energy bolts from a Plasma Rifle or Plasma Pistol before a shot would be able to melt through the armor plate, burn through the undersuit and hydrostatic gel layer and inflict a nasty third or fourth degree burn on wearer and it would do absolutely jack-shit against Particle Beam Weapons which would slice right through the armor and wearer like paper and the same was true for overcharged Plasma Pistol bolts. Of course, if the plasma bolt hit the undersuit, it would burn right through it with ease.

Still, it was hard to believe that it had been a full year since her arrival in this universe. She found it hard to believe that the timeframe she belonged in was some five-hundred eighty four years in the past and likely in a completely different dimension. Also the fact that the training had been incredibly brutal, like above the bar for the SAS training. Plus having been enlisted in a military she barely knew anything about that was fighting a two front war, one against an entrenched rebellion and the other fighting a technologically superior xenophobic alien alliance, between the two she would probably very much prefer fighting against the rebellion and not the Covenant. Mainly because well when fighting the rebels, they had the advantage and the rebels didn't have plasma weapon weapon _bullshit_ just plain old guns.

Still she had a job to do, she was the specialist in her fireteam, which meant that instead of just carrying a powerful MA5B Bullpup Assault Rifle, an M6C Magnum Sidearm, four M9 HE-DP Grenades, four M12 Concussion Grenades, just over four-hundred rounds of ammunition for her rifle, thirty-six rounds of ammunition for her Magnum, a wicked lethal CQC WS Combat Knife, and your bog standard Ka-Bar Utility Knife, she was also carrying attached firmly to her back an M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Anti-Assault Weapon, also known as the Jackhammer Launcher, which was capable of firing two 105mm Fire-and-Forget Guided Missiles with dual mode IR/CCD Seeker Head with a powerful tandem HEAT warhead capable of penetrating the equivalent to 950mm of RHA penetration, to further her vehicle killing potential she was carrying two reloads each with two rockets.

"Alright? Where the hell is fireteam Indigo? They were supposed to be here nearly thirty minutes ago! We'll need them to take out that Covenant Mega Turret!" Corporal Orso Malia hissed angrily, wondering where the hell that there sister fireteam had gone. All around them the muted thuds, cracks, and pops of UNSC weapons seemingly dueled with the high-pitched whine of Covenant Energy Weapons, in the skies the roar of engines from UNSC F-99 Wombat UCAVs and F-31 Cutlasses clashed with the high pitched wail of Covenant Banshee fliers, while the thunder of artillery rumbled in the distance. The city they were in had been turned into a war zone and was systematically getting destroyed, they could win this battle if the Navy could hold against the Covenant in orbit.

"No idea Corporal, still if worse come to worse. Do you think we have the firepower to crack that thing open?" Lance Corporal Nelis Zandman asked curiously, checking his MA5B.

"I have no idea son, this is only the third time that we've seen them on the battlefield and the first time outside of Harvest. So I have no fucking clue if we can take it out at all. But, I am willing to wait for another five minutes and then we are leaving and going to start our show without them." Orso said as he gave his MA5B assault rifle, with an underslung 40mm Grenade Launcher a quick check.

"Sir, I know that my Rocket Launcher can take down Wraiths, Banshees, Chimeras, Choppers, Shades, and if I am quick enough on the trigger and get lucky with placement even Spirits. But against a Mega Turret? I have no idea if my rocket launcher can even penetrate that thing and if it can well I have no idea where to shoot the fucker in order to kill it." Amirah said shaking her head in disbelief at the task that they had been assigned. It was rare for small UNSC Marine Fireteams like Gold and Indigo to get missions like this, but when they did come down; the general response was "Oh you have to be fucking kidding me!"

"Don't know what to tell you Private, but man I wish we had Indigo's Demolition Expert with us, mainly because that guy is lugging around enough C-12 Plastique Explosives to blow a three and half kilometer high Mega Skyscraper straight to hell and I doubt that even a Mega Turret can resist that much explosive going off." Orso replied looking at the young private.

"Don't worry Sulaiman, if your rockets can't penetrate the armor of that Mega Turret, you can always try to send a rocket down that thing's mouth. That ought to do something to it, still something tells me that if we succeed in blowing that thing it will probably be quite the fireworks display." Private Nagy Csenge, the Fireteam's Designated Marksman said as he checked his weapon, a Battle Rifle Fifty-Five.

"Probably will be. Still got to admit I would feel way better if Fireteam Indigo was here. That way we would have twelve soldiers to attack that Mega Turret instead of six. Mainly because it means more bullets to shoot at the bad guys still we don't know what sort of forces are around that Mega Turret. For all we know there can be a fucking dozen Wraiths guarding the fucking thing." Nelis said bluntly shaking his head.

"Personally, sir. I find it illogical that the Covenant would assign a dozen Mortar Tanks to guard a single Mega Turret, that would be a gross misallocation of resources. But we can probably expect to see something, personally I wouldn't be surprised if they have a couple of Shades protecting the damn thing." Amirah replied looking thoughtful.

Orso glanced at his mission clock. "Alright boys and girls, break time is over. Let's go kill ourselves a Mega Turret, Jenkins you're on point!" He barked sharply.

"Yessir!" Private Nicholas Jenkins responded before being the first one out of the bombed out remains of the diner they were holed up in. They moved into the street and proceeded quickly and quietly through the chaos of battle that was all around them. Taking care to avoid enemy contact at all costs and using the massive purple energy bolts that would occasionally fly overhead as sort of like a beacon to guide them to their objective.

"Holy shit, they want us to take out _that_?!" Amirah breathed stunned as they rounded a corner and spotted their quarry, the Covenant Mega Turret. It was massive, soaring to sixty meters into the sky, around halfway up the towering weapon's platform was a defensive ring, mounted on it was several obviously very powerful Covenant Type-26 Anti-Infantry Stationary Guns otherwise known as the Shade, while the turret itself was clad in thick dark purple armor plating. Suddenly an immense crackling filled the air, the maw of the turret glowed a bright purple and then with three thunderous discharges that made the air crack as if a lightning bolt had struck nearby three large bolts of purple fire were hurled out of the muzzle and sent downrange.

"Ho-l-y Jesus, I am grateful we're in it's dead zone. But goddamn that was incredible!" Nagy breathed in awe.

However it was also clear that guarding the Mega Turret appeared to be two Covenant Wraith Mortar Tanks providing support on the ground plus one Elite Major overseeing the command of what appeared to be three enemy squads each contained one Elite Minor, four Grunt Minors, and a single Grunt Major. Nothing too bothersome, although those Wraiths could cause problems. That is, until one of the Riflemen, Private Tere Gargin spotted something.

"Corporal! I got eyes on something new!" She cried suddenly.

"What do you mean something new?" Orso asked stunned at the revelation.

"Exactly that sir! Something brand-new that we have never fucking seen before!" Tere replied, stunned.

"Well what the hell does it look like?! Give me a description!" Orso barked sharply.

"Looks like a fucking Wraith variant sir. They've removed the plasma mortar and replaced it with a large dual-pronged weapon emplacement mounted on what appears to be a turret of some sort!" Tere replied swiftly.

Orso frowned, but then gave out his next set of orders. "Alright, everyone are your helmet recorders on?" He asked and when everyone nodded he continued. "Alright, Sulaiman; I want you to take out those Wraiths, but make sure you let that unknown Covenant tank take a few shots first we need to figure out what it's armed with." Orso ordered.

"Yes sir!" Amirah replied before slinging her rifle and bringing out her Jackhammer Launcher. In her personal opinion the Wraith was the strangest tank she had ever seen, mainly because it _hovered_ above the ground by about a meter, it's wide body provided a nice-stable platform for it's primary weapon an energy mortar that hurled a plasma bomb that when it impacted anything within twenty meters simply vaporized and even beyond that twenty meters out to about forty or fifty meters the thermal effects would either kill you or make you wish that you were dead and could probably seriously wound you out to seventy meters.

Bottomline, those things needed to go. Thus at a range of just over four and half kilometers, Amirah brought the launcher to her shoulder and activated the two power smart-link scope that the Jackhammer Launcher came with. She put the reticle onto the closest mortar tank and it glowed red, shortly afterward a growl and a bright red box formed around the Wraith signaling lock-on. "Backblast area, get clear!" She said from memory and fired the missile, the launcher's weight shifted ever so slightly as the 105mm HEAT round leaped away from the barrel.

The moment round cleared the barrel, Amirah shifted aim to the other Wraith got lock and fired. The missile shrieked away from the launcher, the moment that was done she ducked back into cover and then quickly reloaded, dropping the spent rocket tubes that normally composed the back part of the launcher and slapped a fresh preloaded set in.

She poked out of cover just in time to watch her first rocket hit. The round hit and somehow managed to penetrate the Wraith's armor before exploding. The mortar tank was blown open like a can that had been attacked with a can-opener, pieces of alien alloy was hurled in nearly all directions after the hit. The vehicle crashed to the ground catastrophic killed as bluish-purple flames roared out of the gaping wound. The other two Wraiths spun around and with about half a kilometer before her second rocket would hit, the mortar Wraith fired three times as fast as it's plasma mortar could cycle.

Moments later Amirah's second rocket smashed into the lumpy looking tank and the thing which had been moving forward to get into a better position suddenly lurched to a stop and began to brew up, a smoking red ring right in the middle of mortar tank's frontal glacis, bluish-purple flames quickly consuming the vehicle. It's anti-gravity drive sputtered, then flickered, before failing completely and causing the tank to crash to the ground with a chest-pounding _thud_.

"MOVE! GO! GO! GO!" Orso yelled as three plasma bombs that were arching up gracefully, reached their apex and began to descend like fiery comets. Each one an orb of liquid sun that contained an immense amount of destruction. The Marines vaulted out from their cover, an overturned pickup truck that looked like something had stepped on after it had flipped.

Then that last Wraith revealed it's true purpose. A bright red glow appeared around it's twin prongs, glowing like an angry eye, and then three seconds later it unleashed a blast of bright red energy. The lethal energy bolt went right between two Marines as they ran for cover, both of them stumbled and screamed in pain as the sizzling blast of energy ripped into a sedan that was on it's side and simply blew the vehicle apart in a large explosion.

" _Ho-l-y Jesus! What was that? What the fuck was that?!"_ Jenkins shouted in shock over the radio as the Wraith unleashed another pulse of red energy. This time the blast didn't wound any Marines, but it well and truly had them nice and spooked.

" _Sulaiman kill that Wraith! It's got a heavy duty Plasma cannon of some sort!"_ Orso shouted, wheezing in pain as he dove for cover. Amirah snapped the launcher back up to her shoulder, stopped and aimed. She got a lock and then fired, the missile streaked down range, just as the automated plasma cannons lashed out, cursing she leaped through a window, entered a roll and came up launcher ready; the building looked like a small thrift store. Then the plasma bombs hit and several biomonitors screamed a shrill alarm before going completely silent as their signals disappeared completely. Moments later a loud explosion ripped through the air, followed moments later by thundering crash as the now dead Wraith slammed into the ground.

Amirah looked outside and saw that it was carnage. One of the plasma bombs had hit their old cover, another had hit where four Marines had gone for cover and had vaporized them and their cover. The last Plasma Bomb must have been a panic launch for it had landed right in the middle of the street. About ninety meters from her position. "Fireteam Gold! Who's still alive?!" She called into the radio, leaning out of cover to get a good view as a flight of UNSC Shortswords came in to try and bomb the Mega Turret. The shades came to life, sending a torrent of energy bolts slashing upward and then the Mega Turret fired. In an instant all seven bombers exploded into brilliant orange and black fireballs that smeared across the sky.

" _I am here. You still alive Sulaiman?"_ Nagy asked, sounding like he had just gone through the ringer, he was breathing hard and his voice sounded shaky. He had to be in a lot of pain.

"Yeah, I decided to go for a different piece of cover, try and catch the aliens in a crossfire. Damnit almost the entire fireteam is gone." Amirah said as slung her rocket launcher and unlimbered the MA5B Assault Rifle. It felt good feeling the comforting weight of the assault weapon in her hands. The weapon was the most accurate she had ever used, capable of pegging a watermelon out to a range of a twelve hundred meters in single shot firing and capable of putting eighty percent of the shots in it's sixty round magazine within the X, inner 10, 10, 9, and 8 ring of a bulls-eye at a range of 750 meters when firing in full-automatic, a blistering fifteen rounds per second or roughly 900 rounds per minute. The fact that at close range the thing could shred Covenant pretty damn effectively was some small measure of comfort.

But considering that Elite Majors could eat the better part of a clip from a MA5B before it's shields failed and the powerful rounds actually began to hit the creature. Amirah wasn't the most comfortable in dealing with stuff like that, not without friends at least. "Where are you Nagy?" Amirah asked over the radio.

" _Roughly fifty-eight meters south from where the Fireteam was when they got vaped, I was beginning to enter a building so I could do some sniping when those energy bombs hit. I am in a bad way, listen Private you get the hell out of here. There's too many Covies for two Marines to try and Rambo their way through this. Judging by your vitals you're still good. Just get the fuck out of here."_ Nagy said, his voice filled with pain.

"Bullshit, I am going to get you out of here. Besides, this mission is a bust, might as well call an orbital strike on the thing and call it a day." Amirah replied readying herself for a sprint across the road to where the downed designated marksman was. The fire directed at her was ferocious but they were missing their mark. Amirah soon made it to the the marksman. It didn't take long to find her as Nagy was on the ground in a pile of rubble near the entrance of the building. He was in bad shape, even fifty eight meters from the point of impact, the thermal effects had clearly seriously injured Nagy, particularly judging by the way he was gritting his teeth.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Nagy barked, "You should be going already, it is too late for me."

"That's bullshit, it ain't over until the fat lady sings" Amirah says as she grabs Nagy's hand and pulls him up, earning a snarl of pain of Marksman "So you are coming with me."

"Damn you are not going to let me die in peace are you?" Nagy joked before he grunted in pain.

"Save your breath, we need to get out of here." Amirah said as she lifted Nagy up and slung his arm over her shoulders.

With another heaving crackling crash, the Mega Turret discharged three-lethal plasma bolts toward something. The bolts of blazing energy literally rumbling like thunder as the bolts passed over head. "I am just going to slow you down and you know it. Greater chance for both of us to get killed." Nagy said.

"That's where you are wrong Nagy!" Amirah said as she changed her hold on Nagy and she started running with Nagy in hand and Nagy was surprised by how fast she was running while carrying herself with suit and all, but then again all told the weight combined with him inside of it, was probably around 700 pounds or so, so it was plausible.

Dark clouds began to gather on the horizon and lightning flashed. Great, a storm front was moving in, the storm clouds came rolling in hard and fast, quickly blocking out the sun and releasing a torrents of rain. "Let's get out of this rain and get a proper look at the wound." Nagy said and Amirah nodded. The two entered a building, from the looks of it, the place had at one point been a first-aid clinic before the Covenant had bombed it.

"You stay here, I am going to sweep the building." Amirah said, before checking her MA5B and confirming that there was a round in the chamber.

"Haha, that's not funny!" Nagy hissed sharply.

"Yeah, that was a bad joke. But I gotta do something to keep the morale up. We've lost nearly our entire fireteam, four good friends lost in an instant." Amirah said shaking her head.

Nagy laughed bitterly. "True, still I fear that Fireteam Indigo might have run amuck a Covenant force and are probably in a desperate firefight and we are here. Slowly limping back to UNSC lines." She said bitterly as a thundering crack thanks to plasma bolts from the Mega Turret rattled overhead, followed moments later by a bright flash of lightning and then a rumble of natural thunder. With the rain pattering against the remains of the roof. It seemed to build-up a gloomy atmosphere.

"Yeah, I am going to sweep what's left of the building. Then I am going to come and take a look at that wound." Amirah said.

"Great." Nagy replied bitterly.

Amirah nodded as she slung her rifle and pulled out her sub machine gun began sweeping through the ruined building. She moved slowly through the building, Unknowingly the training from her old life crept back in as she checked every corner and every room for any signs of activity. She was also quiet on her feet which was quite impressive given the armour that she was wearing. She made her way around the building before she came into a large room where there was something large on the ground. She quietly approached the object before she stood up and aimed her gun at it.

"Don't move!" Amirah barked.

"The fuck?" The "person" said as he turned to face Amirah. Amirah felt like kicking herself as she found herself about to shoot Nagy, "What the hell is your problem? And how the hell were you so quiet?"

Amirah sighed deeply. "Well _someone_ back on the UNSC _Saipan_ told me that there were some Covenant Elite ranks that could turn fucking _invisible_! I have a right to be jumpy!" She hissed angrily, before thinking of something. "You think the _Saipan_ has been destroyed in orbit?" she asked.

"The _Saipan_? You mean the _Orion_ class Assault Carrier our unit was assigned to? I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised. Still how the hell were you so quiet?" Nagy said.

Amirah snorted. "When I was younger, I developed a knack for sneaking around. Still, let's go take a look at those wounds." She said.

Nagy grimaced. "It's probably not going to be pretty. I recommend that you take your helmet off." He said, before popping the seal on his helmet and doing exactly that.

"Why the hell would I take off my helmet when we are in the middle of a combat zone?!" Amirah replied stunned by what her sole-surviving fireteam member was doing.

"Mainly because if you throw up inside your fucking helmet it will be an utter bitch to clean-out and good luck getting the smell out." Nagy replied simply and somewhat bluntly.

Blanching how much of a pain that would be, Amirah nodded before doing the same and taking a deep breath of air not cleaned by her helmet's filtration system. She then, unslung her backpack which was magnetically attached to her back in such a fashion that it didn't get in the way of her backup weapons or rocket launcher. She then rummaged around in the thing and then finding what she was looking for pulled out a canister of Biomedical Foam and several self-adhesive antiseptic battle dressings. Something told Amirah that what she was going to be seeing underneath that body suit wasn't going to be pretty.

"Right, let's get this wound checked out. This is probably going to hurt." Amirah said.

"Yeah, I know, I am not feeling any pain though. But something tells me that in a couple of hours I am going to feel like shit." Nagy replied shaking his head and then scratching the back of his head.

Amirah nodded in agreement. "Alright, let's get these metal plates off and part of the body suit." she said before with more exertion than she would have preferred, removed the exterior armor plating around Nagy's right leg. Frowning, she realized that the armor had taken a lot of damage, the Kevlar diamond weave with carbon nanotube reinforcement with fire-proof fabric underneath that weave had failed spectacularly, the extreme heat from the plasma burst even from the distance that Nagy had been at, the heat had caused a large part of the exposed armored bodysuit to catch fire. Amirah made a mental note to ask the brass to see if this weave while somewhat effective could be replaced with something better. She unsheathed her Ka-Bar and with extreme care, cut through the thick material, going with the grain of the majority of the layers. When that was done, she peeled back the bodysuit and promptly recoiled at the extent of the injuries.

Even from the distance that Nagy had been at from the point of impact of that Plasma Bomb. The extreme heat from the plasma bombs impacting, cooling, and spreading had inflicted extreme damage. Large third degree bones marred the her leg, while in some areas she could actually see _bone_ charred black by the extreme heat. Amirah felt a wave of nausea roll through her and she had force down the bile that rose up in her throat. She had never seen a wound like that before, not once in her entire life.

"Judging by your reaction, it's pretty bad isn't it?" Nagy asked dryly looking at Amirah.

Amirah nodded, somewhat pale from what she saw. "D-damn, that's bad. I don't nearly have enough Biofoam to take care of all of that. But I'll do what I can." She said before applying the biofoam to the worst of the wounds, mainly the fourth and three degree burns and then placing the battle dressings on the wounds. She was about to start putting the armor back on when suddenly, she heard the distinctive sound, the sound of glass breaking.

"Oh shit. You heard that right?" Amirah asked and Nagy nodded grimly in response. "If we're lucky it's just a single Elite leading a group of Grunts. Which while tough, a single Marine can solo, if it's more than that. Well let's just hope they are quick and merciful." Nagy replied her voice grim and her tone blunt.

Amirah nodded as she slipped her helmet back on and engaged the seal. She then grabbed her rifle, stood up and moved away.

 **POV Change, Amirah's POV**

 _Great, an entire Covenant squad and I am the only one between Nagy and certain death._ I thought grimly as I clutched my MA5B Assault Rifle; the thing was chambered in one of the largest calibers I had ever heard of being used in a standard issue rifle that wasn't a sniper rifle: 8.6x64mm AP-FMJ with a Tungsten-Carbide core with the projectile itself weighing at 15 grams, it was one of the few rounds that could actually penetrate a Wolverine Powered Combat Exoskeleton at ranges beyond 100 meters. Plus, judging from what I've heard, a burst of these rounds could stomp Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Yeti -at least that's what I refer the Brutes as- into the ground at ranges of up to five hundred meters. Plus the MA5B combined with that round, could tear through energy shields of Elites relatively easily.

Suddenly a horrifically immense explosion ripped through the air and I jumped in fright as the massive sonic boom from the blast tore through the air. Moments later the powerful shockwave hit and the distinctive sound of glass breaking filled the air and the structure groaned under the impact of such massive shockwave. It got me wondering what could have caused it and why?

Shaking off that train of thought I focused on the problem at hand. That problem was, if it was a Covenant squad, not only would their be one Elite, but also a couple of Grunts. She knew that she could handle a couple of Grunts, particularly if they low ranked ones, mainly because from what she had heard. They weren't the brightest things in the world and they also weren't the best shots either. But that Elite could give me trouble, remembering back to my training, they had stated that the bastards were smart, tough, and above all demonstrated depending on their rank varying degrees of understanding battlefield tactics. The fact that they had energy shields didn't help matters. Still, as I slowly moved through the structure, constantly checking my corners, making sure that I wasn't about to get flanked. Of course my biggest concern was if it's not Grunts but Jackals I will be in a lot of trouble thanks to their wrist mounted energy shield, that thing could absorb quite a bit of punishment before failing.

As I walked into a room, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood straight up. Something was in this room with me and I didn't know what was. But I couldn't figure out what it was. But I got the feeling that whatever it was that was in here with me, I wasn't going to like what it was.

If it hadn't been for some unknown sixth sense suddenly screaming at me to leap back, I would have been sliced clean in two. The energy sword, swung down and instantly cleaved through my rifle in an instant, I dropped the ruined remains of the weapon to the floor and pulled out my pistol and emptied the clip in the general direction of the...floating energy sword. An Elite roared a battle cry as it decloaked and I got a good look at my attacker, it was an Elite clad in all black armor, a Specs-Ops Elite.

My mind raced. _Special Operations Elite, I am very lucky to still be alive. No rifle, just my pistol and my knife. Adversary is highly trained and likely knows how to kill me about forty different ways with that sword alone. Counter tactics to use, go at him with the pistol and when that fails employ my second option. If that doesn't work, well I can try to take the bastard with me._ I thought grimly as I reloaded my Magnum and opened fire again. The alien's shield held firmly defiant and the Elite snarled before lunging, I leaped back barely avoiding in getting impaled on that lethal plasma blade. I needed to remove the reach and immense tactical advantage that blade gave that Elite.

 _Right, gotta figure out how to remove the sword from play._ I thought as I barely avoided another strike. I couldn't keep this up, I _needed_ to remove that sword from play at all costs. "Hold still, this will only hurt a little!" The Elite snarled at me, surprisingly in English maybe a case of the adage 'if you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles', as I barely succeeded in sidestepping out of the way of blade, the immense heat of the weapon causing blisters to prick my skin. "I seriously doubt that something that's likely hundreds if not thousands of degrees celsius punching through my midsection is going to hurt a little!" I snarked back at the Elite, ducking under a powerful slashing attack that probably would have taken my head off.

That's when I noticed the pattern, that the elite was using. He was most vulnerable after the Elite tried one of his stabbing attacks, the seven and half foot tall alien had a tendency to overextend itself slightly, it wasn't much and if I screwed my timing up even by as a little as a second the alien would cut me in half rather effortlessly. At least on the bright side if that happened, I probably would be dead before I hit the ground. So that was one good thing to look at it if I messed this up, but then again if I screwed this up, my sole surviving Fireteam member, wouldn't stand a chance against that thing.

The Elite, snarled and lunged forward sharply, I side-stepped and in one smooth motion, holstered my pistol and unsheathed my combat knife and stepped inside the Elite's over-extended lunge and promptly slashed my knife across the inner-elbow of alien's right arm. The blade punched through the shield easily to my immense surprise and cleaved through the alien's flesh and dark purple blood, spurted from the wound and a smell like a fresh tar filled my nostrils.

That as I found, turned out to be crossing the line that shouldn't be crossed. With a roar of outrage from the Elite, a powerful backhand from alien's left hand struck my knife hand. With a pained cry, I felt my left forearm and probably my wrist get brutally snapped, with the armor plating covering that area getting _visibly dented_ from the force of the blow. It also sent me flying through the air and I landed awkwardly and barely managed to scramble to my feet and springing back to avoid a violent uppercut. That's when I noticed my knife was missing, great, I had just lost my only weapon, and while I could use the Magnum, I doubt that with the pounding I just took that I couldn't fire accurately.

Still as I looked at the Alien, I smiled somewhat because I saw that the alien's right arm was dangling at its side, probably worthless. Then the alien was upon me, a flurry of lethal and fast blows came at me. These blows came at me fast and quick and then I discovered that I hadn't rendered the Elite's right arm worthless, for I had focused purely on the Elite's left arm and didn't see the right arm until it slammed into my midsection with a devastating punch, I felt several ribs break, my breath get physically forced out of my lungs, and I was thrown through the air.

I landed with a heavy crash and skidded for a meter before slamming into the opposite wall, with stars detonating across my field of vision. My biomonitor was flashing bright red and I knew that punch had really screwed me over. It had felt like I had been hit with a goddamned ten ton truck, fucking Christ that hurt. I coughed violently and I tasted something like iron in my mouth. I looked at the Elite as it scooped up the hilt of it's Energy Sword and ignited it, the lethal dual triangular blades flashed to life, each one glowed a bright white.

In that moment I knew it was over. The alien split it's four mandibles in what I assumed was a grin and slowly advanced on me. It was probably going to make my death as long and slow as physically possible. I prepared myself for what was most likely going to being a long and painful demise. The only thing I could hope for was that once the Elite had killed me, which I had no doubt in my mind that it would, that it would kill Nagy quickly and painlessly.

That's when suddenly a new figure lunged at the Elite. This new figure was huge at least six and half feet tall in height. Clad in iridescent green and black armor, with a highly reflective golden visor in the helmet. Magnetically attached to it's back was an MA5B Assault Rifle and on it's hip was an M6G Magnum Pistol. The armor was clearly a power armor of some sort, I could actually see what appeared to be a fusion reactor pack on the figure's back. The armor plates of the figure's power armor, but it could be a machine, were way more bulky than the plates on my Wolverine, at least three inches maybe four inches thick. Hell, it looked tough enough that whoever or whatever that thing was could probably tank an entire magazine from an MA5B from a range of 10 meters and come out unscathed.

The Elite seemingly blanched in response before snarling one word harshly in english, with a strange undertone, fear. "Demon" and then it lunged at the massive armored figured. Who moved so quickly that the figure simply blurred, it made me wonder who or what the hell that thing was. Then it grabbed the alien's sword arm and twisted it violently, the elite howled in pain as the distinctive sound of bones snapping filled the air. The hilt of the energy sword fell from the alien's hand and clattered to the floor, where the blade sputtered out.

This new fighter didn't waste any time, one the sword was out of the way. I was still trying to figure out what was going on. It forced the monster back, before unsheathing a combat knife and promptly slamming the thing right into the bottom of the elite's cranium, right through the mandibles, jerked the blade sharply then promptly yanked it out, and then it let the alien fall to the ground lifeless.

I glanced at my mission clock, total time from where that thing had engaged that Elite to killing it, literally ten seconds flat. Still, I wasn't going to die today. But, then I felt different, I realized that my heart was hammering in my chest and I was breathing hard. I racked my mind for answers, trying to figure out what was going on and I realized that I was slipping into shock, which meant I was probably screwed.

The huge armored figure turned toward me and then my eyelids started feeling heavy. Just before my eyes fluttered close and the brutal battering I had taken from that Elite finally made me lose consciousness, I caught a glimpse of a number painted in white on the figure's chestplate in blocky lettering, that number was '117'.

 **Strike Witches Universe**

 **Date: September 1944**

 **Location: Pescara Air Base, Romagna**

 **Unit: 501st "Strike Witches" Joint Fighter Wing**

 **Minna's POV**

It was hard for us to wrap our heads around it, it was a very foreign feeling as to have a member of your unit to just disappear.

"I still can't believe Amirah just disappeared like that." Mio said as she sat in front of my desk.

"I know how you feel Mio." I sadly nodded as I tried to force myself back into a working mindset but it was proving easier said than done.

"This is going to affect how we are to operate from here on out." Mio said, "It is going to take some re-adjusting especially for Shirley, Gertrude, Erica, me… and you since she was one of the earliest members of the Strike Witches."

"Amirah is-was a vital member since she carried the biggest guns in the unit." I said. It was not a lie, Amirah is the only one among us to be able to carry a heavy machine gun without the help of magic. I remember the first time Amirah displayed this strength when during a neuroi attack on our first base, she grabbed a Vickers machine gun and fired it at a neuroi that had slipped past Gertrude and Erica however at the time I thought it was from her under adrenaline. That changed when I saw her doing morning jogs with an MG42 held in her hands like it was a rifle.

"Yes, that is true, Gertrude doesn't even come close in terms of raw strength, the best she can manage is a Lewis Gun." Mio said, "However don't forget Amirah was the only that was able to keep Shirley and Gertrude from being at each other's throats."

"I am almost forgot about that, damn Amirah has been a part of our organization it is hard to remember a time she wasn't part of our unit." I said as I realized how hard it will be to move on without Amirah who has been a part of the unit almost since the beginning. She helped keep the peace especially between Gertrude and Shirley. It was because Amirah was the bridge between the two. Amirah was on very good terms with everyone even the proud Perrine and shy Lynnette. She was someone you could just walk up and talk and she would listen and lets you finish first before saying anything. I don't know what it is about her that makes her so approachable.

"What makes it worse is that Amirah the best gunsmith we had even with the personnel on base. Heck, I have seen them ask her for help." Mio said, "It doesn't help either that she is the only one of us that knows how to clear a jam in the middle of combat.

"Amirah," I clicked my tongue, "Where the hell did you go?"

"Now how are we going to break it to the rest?" Mio asked as me as she looked at me. I in turn looked back at her. I really wanted to not tell the rest for fearing it will cause morale to sink but for how long could I keep them from knowing, they will find out eventually. It was not an easy choice but it had to be done.

"Have everyone gather at the briefing room at 1500, we will tell them then." I said.

"Right, I will tell them now" Mio said as she got up, "Let's hope things turn for the better."

 **1500hrs**

 **Briefing Room**

 **Third Person POV**

Minna watched as the rest of the 501st filled up the room, all of them had the look of curiosity and confusion. Minna took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Just then Mio came up to her.

"Everyone is here, Minna." Mio informed.

"Thank you, Mio." Minna replied before she took another breath and sighed this time more visibly.

"Minna, why are we having this meeting?" Gertrude asked, the sweat on her brow was plenty as she and Erica had just returned from their patrol, in fact they had to cut their patrol short because of this meeting.

"What am I about to tell you is very important and it is going to change how this unit operate from now on" Minna said.

"That sounds bad, very bad." Shirley commented.

"Wait! Why is Amirah not here? She needs to hear this." Erica pointed out.

"Wait… yeah where is Amirah? Shirley asked.

"Yes where is she, she is never one to be late for any meeting if any she is the first to arrive" Gertrude commented.

"Quiet down everyone!" Mio barked and the room fell silent, she then turned to Minna, "Minna."

"Thank you, Mio." Minna replied before taking a deep breath, "It is with great regret to inform you that Captain Amirah Aisyah binti Sulaiman has been presumed to be Killed in Action by the Special Air Service Command and the Royal Air Force."

"What?!" Gertrude barked.

"Killed?" Lynnette gasped.

"Amirah-san" Yoshika muttered.

"This must be a joke, right? RIGHT?" Francesca asked before she pulled at Shirley's jacket, "Shirley, it's a joke right?"

"Sorry Francesca… but this time it is for real… sorry." Shirley said. It didn't take long for the young Romagnan to start bawling her eyes out on Shirley's jacket while Shirley tried to comfort her, failing in doing so. Meanwhile Perrine and many of the rest were just stunned silent. But all had the same question. How? How could Amirah, the deadliest witch the world has ever known be dead? This question echoed in their heads. However of all of them there, one felt almost as if she was the reason Amirah died.

"Perkele. I shouldn't have tried to look into Amirah's fate" Eila muttered as she recalled that two weeks ago, she used her tarot cards to see Amirah's fate. It was the Death card to which caused a fit of laughter from Amirah and Eila as they felt it to be rather unlikely at the time but now… it appears Eila's prediction was right though it was one of the few times she wished she wasn't.

 **Later that night**

It was almost impossible for anyone to sleep after the news that day especially for Eila.

" _Well that is a very optimistic future indeed_ " Eila recalled what Amirah said when she pulled out the 'Death Card'.

"I am sorry, Amirah. It's my fault you are dead."

" _Well how would you know, you were just predicting_ " Amirah said and Eila almost thought she heard Amirah snickering like she did two weeks ago.

"But you know how my predictions are right"

" _Oh come on Eila, you know this was all for fun, don't be so dead serious about it_ " Amirah joked before, Eila swore, a round of Amirah laughing at the bad joke. " _Oh God, that was a bad joke, even by my appalling standards._ "

"But Amirah! You're dead!" Eila shouted as she sat up in bed.

" _So?_ " Amirah replied. Eila then realized something, Amirah shouldn't be replying to what she was saying now.

"Wait, how are you responding to me?" Eila asked before her face drained of colour, "Are you here to kill me?"

" _For heaven's sake, why would I kill a friend of mine?_ " Amirah replied.

"What should I do then? I can't sleep, so what _can_ I do to pass the time?" Eila asked herself glumly.

" _Well you got those cards of yours, why don't you look into the future for everyone, that would be interesting_ " Amirah suggested, " _Well I best be going, I got a battle to fight and so do you._ "

 _What did she mean by that? Alright, I can do that._ Eila thought as she picked up her pack of Tarot cards. "Let's see what the future has in store for everyone." she muttered before drawing cards. The results were interesting, she got three death cards, one long sleep card, an adventure card however it didn't have it's normal image instead it had an image of a massive ring on it, two grief cards, a bravery card, and two cards that she'd never seen before. One of the cards had a group of six figures approaching in vague 'V' shape that card was titled 'Noble' and the last card showed a planet, it sure as hell wasn't Earth the fact that it had _two_ moons and a blue grey haze to something that was around the planet testified to that, this card was titled 'Reach'.

"How did I get these cards? I never seen them before…" Eila said to herself, surprised as she looked at the 'Noble' Card and the 'Reach' Card, what did they mean, more to fact with the other cards she'd drawn, did they all connect with one another? She didn't know.

 **AN: Alright, that's the end of this chapter. Now the reason that this chapter wasn't composed of mainly training; it's mainly because well, that will be in a later chapter.**

 **General: Besides that would take fuc-forever to write and we would rather not tire our hands to death typing 6-12 months worth of training. Back to you.**

 **Thor: The Wolverine Powered Combat Exoskeleton that was seen in this chapter is based off the BDU that the UNSC Marines in Halo Wars have, although the helmet is roughly based off the flight helmets seen in Macross Zero. I mean, let's face it, this is the 2500s, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had something like this. But yeah, 6-12 months of training would take forever to write and particularly considering what we are planning for the story as well. As for the MA5B's sudden caliber increase, it stands to reason that 7.62x51mm NATO would likely struggle to penetrate something like the Wolverine and the fact that well, something like a Gúta.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Alright folks, here we go another exciting chapter of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach. In this chapter, the Neuroi kick-off a rather brilliant plan, so yeah; let's get this show on the road.**

 **Strike Witches Universe**

 **September 18th, 1944**

 **On Patrol over the island of Sveti Andrija**

 **Erica's POV**

Sorrow, that's what filled my chest with the knowledge of the fact that Amirah. One of my closest friends had been declared KIA, it had felt as if something had died within me when I had heard the news.

"Whoa! Whoa! Watch it Frau!" Gertrude suddenly snapped at me. Panicking slightly I looked around frantically and then with a sigh, realized that I had been drifting and probably would have been collided with her. The results of _that_ wouldn't have been pretty, mainly because I've seen the results when two witches are flying in formation and loses focus and drifts into the other, it is never pretty.

"Sorry Trudy, it's just that I got a lot on my mind. With Amirah having been declared KIA and all that." I said dejectedly, thinking of how painful Amirah's death had probably been.

"I know Bubi, I've also been thinking about Amirah. If anything, it's served as a massive wake-up call for not only you and me, but also for the squadron as a whole." Gertrude replied shaking her head in response.

"But what if we are on a mission and we actually see someone get shot down? Or worse we see them get shot down and then we can't catch up to them in time before they hit the ground?" I asked, my voice breaking.

"Okay, you're now blowing this _way_ out of proportion. It will affect your discipline and performance greatly if you become a fatalist! Don't dwell on it!" Gertrude replied sharply and firmly.

"But if someone as good as Amirah, who was in the goddamned _SAS_ as well as being a member of 501st can be killed. What does that say about us? How since we're just normal fighter witches?" I asked, knowing what I was saying was true.

Gertrude sighed deeply. "I am actually slightly disappointed in you Erica. You're the best damn fighter witch that the allies have. You have over three hundred confirmed aerial victories plus another twenty or so probables. If anything it says a great deal about your skill as a fighter witch." She replied, shaking her head.

"But, you have to admit that I do have a point right?" I asked with a bit more temper than I wanted too.

Gertrude gave me a surprised look and then she surprised me. "Bubi, you do make a good point; but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If we come to it, but until that happens, don't worry about it." She said rolling her shoulders slightly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Who I am kidding, I need to focus on the present and morun Amirah's death later." I said, shaking my head in response and then glancing below at the island we were beginning to fly over. It was mountainous and heavily forested. If things turned ugly above this island and either of us got shot down, well, finding a safe spot to try and land safely was going to be troublesome at best.

That's when the radio crackled and a somewhat unexpected and unwelcome voice came over the frequency. _"Heads-up Strike one and two, this is the Federation affiliated AWACS Thunderhead -"_ he started saying and I glanced at Gertrude. "What the fuck does assholes at Thunder-Blockhead want with us?" I asked, with a large amount of animosity in my tone of voice, and for good reason everyone in the 501st JFW utterly _hated_ working with the AWACS Thunderhead even Francesca, Lynette, _and_ Yoshika which was _saying_ something.

However when it came to the 501st JFW all of us prefered working either with the AWACS Oka Nieba, Ghost Eye, or Magic; the reason for that being was because well Oka Nieba had actually defected from the Ysterplaat and was thus far more knowledgeable on Plaat equipment that and he was also very friendly being on a last name basis with every single member of the squadron with the exception of Amirah who had been instrumental in getting not only him but his entire crew and aircraft back to allied territory alive, Ghost Eye simply because while he was very professional he would crack a joke on occasion, he was also very friendly although he would express worry particularly if someone did something bone-headed plus he was on either a first or last name basis with the witches but it really depended on whom he was talking too, and Magic simply because he was like Ghost Eye very professional but knew how to get the proper balance between humor and seriousness, that and he was very friendly, so much so that the entirety of the crew of that AWACS was on a first name basis with all of the witches in the 501st.

Thunderhead was disliked by everyone, because he only used the squadron identifier that the Federation used for our squadron when it came to that sort of stuff. That and he was very much a stringent and by the book hardass combined with the fact that he never cracked a joke being serious _all the damn fucking time_.

"Well, had you waited before saying that. You would've heard that their four extremely fast movers heading for Split. If we move now, we can intercept them. But yeah, I certainly hate Thunder-Blockhead." Gertrude replied with a wide grin as she went into a wide sweeping turn and began heading north as fast as possible, a turn that I promptly followed in order to stay with my wingman.

"Wait, extremely fast movers? How fast are we talking?" I asked as I tried to figure out what that lingo meant.

"Give me a second." Gertrude replied before keying the radio. "Thunderhead, this is Strike-1. When you say 'extremely fast movers' how fast do you mean exactly?" she asked, with a slight amount of contempt in her voice.

Thunderhead's response surprised them all. _"Strike-1, when I say 'extremely fast movers' I mean that they are moving in excess of Mach three, in case you're wondering that is three times faster than the speed of sound. Didn't you read the - wait a minute. New data coming in, oh shit. Strike-1 and Strike-2, whatever you do! Do not I repeat do not engage those things!"_ Thunderhead said before his voice suddenly changed and he became slightly panicky.

 _Make up your goddamned mind idiot!_ I thought sourly, because if this became another one of those official wild-goose chases, I simply wasn't going to be responsible for my actions, mainly because if that happened, this would be the fifth time this month!

"What do you mean by that Thunderhead?" Gertrude asked curiously as she raked the bolt back on her twin MG42s.

" _The contacts are descending from an altitude of over 150,000 feet and doing so awfully quick! That classifies these fast movers as_ _FX-51_ Tormentor _class Starfighters, head back toward Pescara at best possible speed. These things can_ and _will fly literal rings around you!"_ Thunderhead replied, sounding very alarmed for some reason.

"Wait, uh Thunderhead, what in the ever-loving fuck is a 'Starfighter'?" I asked bluntly, having never heard the term before.

" _The FX-51_ Tormentor _class Starfighter is capable of operating outside of a planet's atmosphere in a zero-g environment in a near perfect vacuum. To put it in perspective, the only thing we got that equal those things in that environment are FR-301_ Valkyrie _class Starfighter. In atmosphere the_ Tormentor _will fly circles around_ Raptors _."_ Thunderhead said frantically and that tidbit of information caused both myself and Gertrude to share a look before turning and heading toward Pescara as fast as we could.

"Thunderhead, what are you going to send up to engage the enemy?" I asked curiously, as a sinking feeling in my gut told me that I wasn't going to like the response.

" _We're in the process of scrambling Regal and Omega Squadrons but- wait. Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me! Heads-up Strike-1 and 2, the enemy has detected you, their changing course. Damnit. Estimated time till they will be within missile range, is five minutes and time till they will be in gun range is about twelve minutes. Your best chance for survival to get on the deck and stay on the deck, their targeting systems have trouble tracking targets that are right on the deck!"_ Thunderhead replied, before his voice suddenly being filled with a straight panic.

Myself and Barkhorn shared a look before realizing that we were in deep shit. Then we dove hard and fast for the deck, as we pulled out of their dives very close to the water. Perhaps a barest twenty meters or so above the waves. The wind nipped at my face and what little spray from the rough chop that did reach me stung sharply.

"Thunderhead, time till their on us?" Barkhorn asked, her voice all business.

" _Ninety seconds till their in missile range if they are using XLAAs, if their using XMAAs just over three minutes till they're in range, if they're using SRAAs it will be about nine to ten minutes, with them being in gun range moments after that."_ Thunderhead replied in a deadpan tone.

Myself and Trude shared a look, this wasn't good in any way, shape, or form. "Thunderhead, the _moment_ you detect enemy missiles launched let us know. We can defeat those things, but it's not easy, the quicker the warning the sooner we can go evasive and the better a chance we got for defeating those things." I said grimly, knowing it was true. For while witches _could_ defeat missiles, particularly the Long-Range ones rather easily, the medium range began to toe the line between doable and near-impossible, of course, they flipped a short-ranged one at you, usually had mere _seconds_ to react, otherwise the results were… messy.

" _Roger, be advised. If they launch missiles I won't be able to inform who the missile is targeting. But the instant I see a missile launch, I'll let you know."_ Thunderhead replied sourly.

The next couple of minutes passed slowly, making it seem like hours. But then I saw something in the corner of my, a blackish-silver glint in the sky. That got my attention in an instant, turned and well I saw one of the most incredible sights that I have ever seen.

Four sharp and lethal looking craft, each with _four_ wings were hurtling toward us at incredible velocity, the afterburners aglow with a furious orange-blue glow that propelled the craft forward at incredible speed. They were closing in hard and fast, then she saw it, the lead craft waggled its wings and then the four craft winged over and went into a howling dive.

"Here they come!" I said calmly and Barkhorn looked at me and nodded.

"Break right and climb!" Barkhorn snapped before turning in sharply. I followed her, this was a standard dogfighting maneuver for fighting a foe that was diving on you. This was because it would force a held-on pass which meant that the enemy would then have to beat them in a turning fight in order to get a clear shot at your opponent's six. _Of course, I've never fought these so called 'Starfighters' before, so I don't know if we've made the correct decision or not._ I thought grimly as I put as much power as I could into my Striker Units and climbed to try and gain as much altitude as physically possible.

That's when the enemy revealed a big advantage, they suddenly opened fire at a range of four and half thousand meters, angry red bolts of lethal energy shot forth. "Jesus, that's not fair!" I cried out as I put up my shield and then had a solid burst of energy bolts crash into it and they did so hard, actually causing the slightest of cracks in it. That made my eyes widen in alarm, never before had I seen any Neuroi gun system capable of doing _that_ to my shield.

Then I got in range and my finger squeezed the trigger and the barrel of my MG42 flashed and it let out it's distinctive firing sound similar to a buzzsaw. A stream of tracers arched away from the barrel and as I watched the majority of my burst was on target, but to my _immense_ surprise, the rounds simply sparkled on the enemy craft and it bore down on me without even showing any signs that the thing had even taken any damage.

"Das wird gern gefressen!" I muttered sadly, as the fighter and it's wingman roared over my head and I reversed my course as fast as humanly possible. But to my immense surprise and horror, the enemy craft was already swinging around, it's nose nearly pointed at me.

It's guns suddenly flashed and I barely managed to get my shield up in time. This time, it was a much longer burst, the Neuroi bolts hammered the shield hard. First causing the slightest cracks and then expanding those cracks greatly. Then the enemy plane screamed overhead and buffeted me severely with it's jet wash.

That's when I heard Barkhorn cry out in shock and alarm, my head snapped around so fast that I cracked my neck. When I spotted my wingman, my heart promptly dropped into my stomach. Trudy's left Striker Unit had thick bluish-yellow flames and thick black smoke billowing from it, the magic engine within had clearly been riddled by multiple hits and was now it's last legs while the other one had a long thin stream of white vapor, coolant I realized, pouring from the engine. As if on cue, the right Striker Unit completely seized and then the left one gave a final stuttering cough and then it too failed. With a complete loss of power, combined with the heavy payload that Barkhorn was carrying, she stalled almost instantly and went into a dive, she quickly ditched her weapons and ammunition and then just before she hit the water, engaged her shield to cushion the blow. Although from the looks of it, the impact still had to hurt, at least some nasty bruises.

"SHIT! Thunderhead, Barkhorn is down! I repeat she's down!" I all but screamed into the radio as I barely dodged another lethal burst of energy bolts.

" _God-fucking-damnit! Just hang in their Strike-two, Regal and Omega Squadrons are thirty seconds away from missile range! Just hang on!"_ Thunderhead replied quickly, his voice in a complete panic. It was clear that he had no idea what to do, which to be frank judging by the way he freaked out when these 'Starfighters' appeared, it was a given; these things were faster, tougher, and more powerful than anything that I have ever seen.

Still I went right after one of the fighters. Pulling an incredibly tight turn, I grunted with exertion as an increased gee-load pushed against me. But I just couldn't get my crosshair on the fighter I was chasing, it was pulling too tight a turn for me to pull lead on the target. I couldn't get my gun on target, I knew that I had to do something drastic but the question was, what was the drastic thing that I had to do?

I decided that my best course of action would to go defensive, mainly because I couldn't stay on my opponent too long, for three enemy fighters was trying their best to splash me. Suddenly the enemy fighters all went evasive, deploying flares and chaff, moments later dozens of missiles streaked through the air, but to my immense dismay the enemy fighters managed to avoid all of them. Several moments later, a brilliant red flash illuminated the horizon to the southwest and then Thunderhead's shocked voice came over the radio again. _"What the fuck was that?! Nearly all of Regal Squadron and just over half of Omega Squadron just disappeared off our radar!"_ He exclaimed shocked and somewhat stunned.

" _This is Regal two! We're pulling out, I think someone ordered a goddamned orbital strike on us!"_ A Federation fighter pilot announced grimly, just as another brilliant red flash illuminated the horizon. This downright resulted in the radio exploding into chaos.

" _Sonofabitch! The left wing is completely gone, bailing out!"_

" _Omega 7, 9, and 15 is gone! No chute! No chute on any of them!"_

" _Regal Five down! No chute! No chute!"_

" _Omega 11 been shot down! Confirmed chute! Confirmed chute!"_

" _Where the hell is Omega actual?! Is his plane still in the air?!"_

" _Omega actual down! No chute! FUCK!"_

" _Gah! All surviving planes, turn and burn like hell for the Romagnan coast, we're sitting ducks against whatever is bombarding us!"_

To say that Thunderhead was surprisingly horrified would be _understating_ the situation. _"Damnit, no! This can't be happening! Listen Strike-2, try and break and disengage; you're simply no match for those things! Get out of their!"_ Thunderhead said, it sounded like the radar controller that had been responsible for us as well as Regal and Omega Squadrons was close to tears. It made me realize that perhaps the reason that Thunderhead was so by the book, strict, and a hardass to boot; it was all a mask.

"Ja, I'll try." I muttered as I pitched up, barely avoiding one burst of energy bolts and then twisting around to avoid another burst. They seemed to be angling hard for my striker units for some reason. I decided to try and use that to my advantage, thus I rolled inverted and dove, pulling up straight at wave-top level. The maneuver worked just liked I hope it would, for the enemy fighters suddenly couldn't get a clean shot, energy pulses churned the water around me as the enemy attempted to land a hit on me.

Not that it was gonna happen, I was jinking all over the place, swerving left and right in hard consecutive turns. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that an enemy plane had foolishly decided to come down to my altitude level and was obviously trying it's hardest to peg me. _Gotcha ya bastard._ I thought before I did a maneuver from memory. I suddenly pitched up and spun 180 degrees in one smooth move, bringing my MG42 to bear on target, if these things had a weak point, it had to be those pods on the wings. Time seemed to slow as the enemy plane began to turn away, but I _already_ had a bead on him and he was in my sights. I squeezed the trigger and my machine gun let out it's distinctive buzzsaw sound, the muzzle flashed, and the weapon kicked against my shoulder. A long stream of tracers lashed out, the rounds sparkled on the engine pod, the thing sparked, then shuddered, then started smoking, before finally _exploding_ in a impressive display of fire, smoke, and debris.

The engine pod suddenly exploding also tore a good section of the wing off. The sudden uneven lift and thrust effortlessly pitched the thing straight into the relatively warm waters of the Adriatic Sea were the craft just _disintegrated_ on impact.

"Splashed!" I cheered as the spray from the thing hitting the ocean cleared. Revealing what, well couldn't be identified as a fighter anymore.

" _What? You got one?!"_ Thunderhead asked surprised.

" _Damn right she did, God that's why she's the best of the best. It was_ absolutely _fucking glorious."_ A Neuroi fighter pilot confirmed, sounding seemingly awed at my accomplishment.

Then as I continued my spin, and began to level back out. One of my Striker units gave a sound that I really didn't want to hear. A god almighty _bang_ followed by a disturbing _ruuumpf_ wondering what the hell that was, I glanced over my shoulder and nearly had a panic attack. I had been hit bad, one of my Striker Units was on fire and had completely seized and the other Striker Unit was riddled with several large holes and had both white and black vapor pouring out of a dozen wounds.

"Uh, I've got a problem here. Losing oil and coolant pressure, I am gonna try and ditch." I announced over the radio, even as my mind raced as I frantically recalled the standard ditching procedure. _Alright, step one is disengage engine, step two is increase surface area in order to decrease speed, step three is dismount from Striker Unit, step five is deploy shield, and step six is pray that you don't break your goddamned neck on impact._ I thought as I quickly went through the procedures for ditching.

The ocean came up to meet me with a vengeance. The impact _completely_ winded me. But I was grateful that I ditched the striker unit, mainly because while it did break-up on impact, it stayed to quite a degree intact, with the remains promptly sinking like a stone. It would have dragged me under the waves.

The plane responsible for splashing me, circled around twice to confirm the kill, before dropping something. But I didn't know what it was, shortly afterward, the enemy planes increased power and then, resting on massive plumes of orange-blue fire, rocketed sharply into the air and we're quickly out of sight; enormous sonic booms tearing through the air like a series of rifle shots.

I was depressed beyond measure, convinced that I was going to die out here in the ocean. Never to be seen again, still regardless I continued treading water, grateful that I had been forced to learn how to swim. Not that it would help me, the water was pretty rough today and thus I was having a little bit of trouble keeping my head above water. Still, I would likely be exhausted or dead by the time a PBY or a _Wiking_ managed to find me.

But as it turned out, I didn't have a long to wait. My sharp eyes picked out a distinct silverish-blackish glint in the sun. The object, whatever it was quickly descended, the craft angling down, I realized too late that it was one of those Plaat dropships, mainly because I had been expecting a Federation craft and not a Plaat one. The thing's distinct engine pods flared out and the thing entering a hover.

One of the doors opened and while I couldn't tell what was going on inside something interesting happened, a figure leaped out of the craft which had to be a good forty-feet in the air at least and plunged into the water with a sharp splash and shortly afterward, from a winch or something attached to the dropship a small bucket came down. 

I was still trying to figure out what was going on when suddenly I saw the figure from before swim up to me and I was about to swim away but the pain in my legs stuck me to my spot.

"Subject is still alive and conscious" The figure said, "Beginning extraction"

The next thing I knew was I was put into a bucket and being hoisted into the dropship and wow it was quite spacious. Then, as if to remind me who had pulled me up, I felt something clasp down on my hands. It was a pair of handcuffs.

"You, take a seat over there." The soldier said as he pointed to a seat across the hold of the ship. I was a bit surprised by how polite he was being which was quite a strange change compared to the other Plaat forces who were much more… crude as I remember the times listening to radio intercepts of Plaat aerial and ground forces talking and they were always so vulgar and I swore I heard one of them being drunk. Anyway, I made my way to the seat as I saw no point in resisting because if I tried, they could easily pick me back up if I am not dead as I was bad enough at swimming even with my arms untied so I don't want to try them tied.

I noticed the drop ship was moving but it wasn't for long. Then I saw motion at the where the winch was. I saw a basket come up and inside was Gertrude. Damn, looks like she got caught as well. Well at least I won't be alone… Wait, that means that's three experienced witches gone from the Allied fliers' roster which means three big shoes to fill.

"You, join your friend over there." The winch operator said to Gertrude after putting her into cuffs like he did to me. She looked up at me and she frown.

"They shot you down as well?" Gertrude asked.

"Yes, they did, unfortunately" I replied as Gertrude saw down next to me. It became quite awkwardly quiet as we sat there in the hold of the ship. It was uncharacteristically quiet for Gertrude who would be chewing my ass right now for the mistakes I made but not this time.

"I am sorry for this." I threw out there, "If I was more focused…"

"There is no need for that now, Erica" Gertrude sighed as she sat back into her chair, "What's done is done, no point mulling over things we could have done differently." she said sadly.

"I wonder what's going to happen to us, I mean we're obviously POWs, if we're lucky will probably die and no one will know where to find us!" I said, completely and utterly depressed, as the door to the outside the world closed and then sealed.

"Don't worry about it, you want to know what they say about death?" Gertrude asked me curiously.

"It's that death is merely the next great adventure. So who knows what experiences will have in the afterlife." Gertrude said somewhat bitterly.

"Now that's reassuring to a degree. But I guess we are about to find out about what the next great adventure is." I said somewhat sadly, it wasn't comforting in the fact that we were going to die. I didn't want to die, I felt like I was too young too die.

Then with a great feeling of acceleration and a change of pitch. The dropship seemingly sprinted into the air and within a matter of minutes it was beyond the reach of almost anything. With the exception of Federation Starfighters, but they wouldn't have been able to provide much aid that's for sure, considering that the _Phobetor_ had now for sure announced her presence with those orbital strikes.

"Guess I'll be seeing you in the next one." Gertrude muttered but it was clear that she was accepting her fate. I realized that there was no fighting it and nodded in agreement.

 **Later that day**

 **Pescara**

 **Third Person POV**

Minna was trying to fight tears as her least favorite AWACS, Thunderhead, but today he was different, sounding utterly broken. "You're absolutely sure?" She asked, her voice shaking.

" _Yes, Minna. I am absolutely positive, Erica and Barkhorn are likely POWs, after they were both splashed an enemy dropship appeared and likely picked them up. I am sorry commander, I couldn't do anything to try and prevent that! I called in Regal and Omega Squadrons to try and provide aid, but an enemy warship, likely a Space Battleship nailed them with two orbital strikes. Almost all of Regal Squadron and the majority of the Omega Squadron was destroyed. Last time I felt this helpless was when an enemy light destroyer intervened in a battle and destroyed nearly all friendly air and sea forces in their entirety."_ Thunderhead replied his voice close to breaking, considering how open that the usually harsh AWACS was being. It made her realize that the event he was talking about was an event that the 501st JFW had been lucky to escape from alive with all members still with them: The Massacre at Santorini; that battle had resulted in the loss of the three Fleet Carriers, four Battleships, five Heavy Cruisers, six Light Cruisers, and over twenty destroyers. Plus the utter annihilation of numerous squadrons of fighters and bombers as well as entire land-based fighter witch _wing_. That was just Allied losses, the Federation losses were way _worse_. Just because a six-hundred fifty meter long Plaat Space Light Destroyer had decided to come out and play.

It had been terrifying to see that thing, rise ever so calmly out of it's subterranean berth. Rise calmly into the air, eat several salvos of shells from numerous _battleships_ , revealed to be totally _intact_ behind a shimmering blue shield composed of many hexagons and then proceeded to _**annihilate**_ any and all attackers.

"So, you think that there still alive?" Minna asked, trying to calm down the obviously heart-broken AWACS.

" _Probably, but just by looking at the IFF codes we managed to pick up from that dropship; it's the Imperial Ysterplaat Space Navy that has taken them as POWs. Good news is, they'll be treated rather well, bad news is they could wind-up on a POW camp literally_ light-years _away from Earth."_ Thunderhead replied sadly.

 _Aw damn._ Minna thought grimly, the fact that Erica and Gertrude could wind up _off world_ was a mind-numbing thought. "Alright, thanks for clarifying that Thunderhead. Any idea where they could wind up?" She asked calmly.

" _No idea! Listen, I am incredibly sorry for the losses that you're squadron has suffered. Hell, Oka Nieba, his crew well, they aren't taking Amirah's death well. This also ties into why I've always been blunt and straight to the point with your squadron. I made the mistake of getting to know the pilots of fighter squadrons on a personal level. I lost a lot of friends at the Massacre at Santorini and I've become empathetic."_ Thunderhead replied, sounding bitter.

"I know, Thunderhead. I know, listen I am going to tell the squadron tomorrow morning. Because the shock of losing three members within less than a day. Everyone is likely going to assume that they are in Split it's not the first time that's happened. Listen Thunderhead, if you ever need help, I know a few friends." Minna said calmly, her heart aching for how the crew of the AWACS Thunderhead must have felt.

" _Thanks, that'll be much obliged. Any suggestions on who I should visit?"_ Thunderhead asked in a semi-pleading tone.

"Well, you could visit either Adolphine or Katherine if you want me too, I could arrange something so you could go and see them." Minna said, calmly, trying her hardest to not break into tears.

" _That would be very much welcome, thank you commander."_ Thunderhead replied.

"No problem Thunderhead. I'll send out a couple of messages to both of them." Minna said.

" _Thanks, commander. You have my gratitude."_ Thunderhead said before cutting the connection. With that done, Minna put the talker for the radio back in it's proper place and then began to sob silently.

It was too much, she decided, one of her best friends was dead and two others were Prisoners of War. She knows that she shouldn't have favourites but she would rather lose Francesca, Lynnette and Perrine than lose Amirah, Erica and Gertrude. Furthermore, Adolphine and Katherine informed her that due the extensive and heavy losses in the Battle for Kursk of the previous year and with operations planned this year, there will not be any replacements available to fill in the holes in the roster. Though, Minna knew that those replacements if they were even available had three large boots to fill. Minna glanced at the clock, it was nearly 1500 hrs, Minna couldn't help but scoff, because it didn't feel like it was 1500 hrs.

 **That night**

It was sorrowful night as the girls fell asleep with no one out for night patrol as Minna was now worried that Sanya would be next. Furthermore, it was decided by High Command of the Mediterranean Front that the 501st JFW is to be pulled from frontlines duty for some much needed R&R. Hence for the first time in a long time, conventional night fighters took the to sky to patrol the night sky but it will take more than a flight of night fighters to stop what was to come.

Shirley was awoken when Francesca shook her frantically. "What is it Francesca?" she asked drowsily as she rubbed her eyes to get vestiges of sleep out of them. "Something's coming, I heard it when I was outside, sleeping in a tree!" The young Romagnan replied sounding scared.

"What do you mean by that?" Shirley asked, now very much alert.

"KYAAH!" A scream was heard from Shirley's bedroom doors. Biting back a curse, Shirley grabbed her trusty Colt M1911A1 pistol, checked to see that it was loaded and convinced that it was, racked the slide, thus chambering a round, and flicking the safety off. She took all of three steps toward the door when suddenly a powerful kick caused the door to fly open and then a small cylindrical object was tossed into the room. It hit the ground once, bounced into the air and then the world turned into a ball of white light and thunder. Both Shirley and Francesca yelped as they were flash-blinded and temporarily deafened as the Flashbang Grenade detonated. Shirley dropped her M1911 as she went to rub her eyes and began to shake her head to try and get her hearing back.

That delay, however was all that six Plaat Space Force Commandos needed. They stormed into the room and without a fuss, easily managed to disarm and cuff both Shirley and Francesca. Which combined with the fact that this same squad had just a few moments ago managed to capture Eila and Sanya.

The girls were completely caught off guard as within several minutes, they were all in Plaat soldier's hands. To say that the Imperial Ysterplaat Republic had just pulled off a brilliant stratagem was an incredible understatement, but then a great equalizer appeared.

" _Phobetor_ , this is Menace-actual. Mission accomplished, returning to base." The leader of the strike team reported.

" _Affirmative, Menace-Actual. Get your asses back up here ASAP. Long-range sensors have picked up an enemy Battleship Division, with several escorting cruisers and destroyers. Estimated time till there in firing range is two and a half hours. Which means we have just enough time to complete our mission before we engage in battle."_ Mission control replied calmly.

"Roger" Menace-actual replied sourly and then instructed the pilot to take-off. With a thundering roar of engines, the dropship rocketed into the air. Menace-actual leaned out of the open door and hit a detonator switch. Moments later, the entirety of the 501st JFW's base was ripped apart as several well-placed X4 explosive charges detonated with fiery purpose. The main spire collapsed inward while the individual wings of the building collapsed in on themselves, within a matter of seconds, the distinctive base was nothing more than a mere pile of rubble, with the only recognizable feature still standing being the runway. 

**At the same time**

A flight of Messerschmitt Bf-110 G-4 night fighters were returning to base, which took them over the town of Pescara. At first everything was going alright when one of the radar operator of the lead Bf-110 noticed something.

"Hoffmann, can you see the lights from Pescara Air base?" The radar operator asked.

"J...Nein, Schulz." The pilot replied, "What's wrong with that?"

"Shouldn't the base have its lights on? It is regulations after all." Schulz replied, "You in case any Allied aircraft had to land in the middle of the night."

"They probably turned them off so to get ready for their departure." The tail gunner theorized.

"No Gustav. that doesn't make any sense, it is still regulations to have your lights on." Schulz said.

" _This is Schwarz Beta to Schwarz Alpha, can you read me?"_ said a voice on the radio.

"This is Schwarz Alpha to Schwarz Beta, we can read you five by five." Schulz replied.

" _Good, I thought our radio was acting up again,"_ Schwarz Beta's radar operator said.

"What makes you think that, Halder?" Schulz asked.

" _I can't raise Pescara Air Base on the radio."_ Halder replied.

"Strange," Schulz asked, "Wait one Schwarz Beta."

" _Copy Schwarz Alpha."_ Halder replied.

"This is Schwarz Alpha to Schwarz Flight, can any of you get Pescara Air Base on the line?"

A few minutes go by as the Bf-110 radar operators attempt to raise Pescara but all they got was static.

" _This is Schwarz Caesar, we can't get to them."_ The third Bf-110 radioed.

" _This is Schwarz Dora, same here, all we are getting is static."_ The fourth Bf-110 radioed.

"Well that is odd." Hoffmann commented.

"What is going on, something's not right here" Schulz replied, "Hoffmann, I think we need to investigate."

"I am inclined to agree with you, Schulz but we are running low on fuel as it is." Hoffmann said.

"But Hoffmann, something is happening at Pescara, there is no way that Pescara will be this quiet." Schulz argued. Hoffmann contemplated for a moment.

"Alright, we will take a look but only to see what's going on." Hoffmann said.

"Yes sir." Schulz replied, "This is Schwarz Alpha to Schwarz Flight, we are going to take a look at Pescara Air Base and see what's going on."

The four Bf-110s turned their course slightly to head directly to Pescara Air Base. At first, the Bf-110 crews saw that the base was pitch black with none of it's lights on or even their searchlights. However it then became apparent something was taking off from the hangar bay of the air base and it shot up like a rocket.

" _What the hell was that?!"_ Halder asked.

"I have no…" Schulz could not finish as a tremendous explosion was heard and an enormous fireball erupted skyward to the horror of the Karlslander fliers, Pescara Air Base disintegrated before their very eyes.

" _Pescara Air Base, it's destroyed!"_ Schwarz Dora shouted in alarm.

"Mein Gott…" Schulz uttered as he stared at the rubble and fire that was once the home of the most vital units of the war.

"The war, it is lost" Gustav whispered in horror.

"No Gustav, the war is already over, we just haven't realized it yet." Schulz muttered, "The age of man is over."

" _No it's not leader. Remember, we've given the enemy some really hard knocks recently. Kursk, Sicily, Overlord, Shingle, Saipan, Tinian, Guam. We're pushing them back on all fronts, slowly but surely."_ Halder replied, although the shock was evident in his voice from what had just occurred.

 **In Orbit**

The _Phobetor_ powered forward along with her escorts. The Federation warships were closing rapidly, with no less than five enemy Space Battleships, with eight Cruisers, and twelve destroyers were approaching. In a sense, it was overkill mainly because the _Phobetor_ only had one Heavy Cruiser and two Destroyers for escort.

This battle only had one outcome, however the _Phobetor_ had to finish their mission. The bridge of the powerful warship was buried deep within her armored hull, so that a lucky shot couldn't disable the entire ship. Holographic view screens provided a view of the outside, in one panel spun Earth, in another was the moon, in the main central panel however was the enemy fleet that was bearing down on them.

"Have we identified the enemy ships?" The captain asked.

"Yessir! We're looking at the Federation's BatDiv 9, which means we're looking at the battleships _Zenith_ , _Flavia_ , _Infinitum_ , _Caelestis_ , and _Anarchy_. Which means three _Celestia_ class Battleships and two _Infinitum_ class Battleships, no way in hell we can win this." A sensor officer replied bluntly.

"What about the Cruisers and Destroyers? Have we identified them yet?" The captain ordered.

"Negative, sir. We haven't, but then again. We are more focused on those battleships." A sensor officer replied calmly.

"Right, those battleships are the biggest threat. What is the status with the rest of HIGHCOM's plan?" The captain asked.

"Going rather well, ten more minutes and then our task will be complete." A rating replied.

"Good, how long until the enemy is within firing range?" The captain asked.

"They are nearly in range of the main battery, but in order to fire it. We'll have to divert way to much power, we won't be able to engage the device. However, they'll be in range of our missiles and secondary energy weapon arrays within two minutes." The chief weapons officer replied.

"Alright, time till the enemy is range of us?" The captain asked.

"Three minutes" The weapons officer replied.

"Right, divert shield power from the aft shields to the forward shields. That way when they open fire, they'll have to tear through more shielding. In the meantime, are they in range of our Cruiser and Destroyers?" The captain ordered sharply.

"The enemy is in range for our Cruiser and Destroyers, but it's main battery only." The weapons officer replied, while at the sametime a sharp crackle resounded through the hull as the shield power was redirected.

"Good enough, signal the _Seleucia_ , _Barbara_ , and _Antioch_ to open fire. Let's get this show on the road." The captain ordered.

The signals were sent and the accompanying Heavy Cruiser and two Heavy Destroyers slowly traversed their main batteries. Glowing red energy built within the maws of their main battery guns, of which the the _Seleucia_ , which was for all intents and purposes a three-dimensional Rhombus with wings in shape had six dual-barreled cannon mounts and the two Heavy Destroyers which had an arrowhead shaped bow, that lead into rectangular prism shaped midsection, with a bulbous stern had four single-barreled mounts each fired.

Brilliant lances of red fire of the Plasma-Laser Hybrid variety shot forth. Covering the distance to the enemy fleet, an incredible three and half light-seconds in a matter of moments. The lead ship in the Federation formation, a Destroyer, had it's forward energy shield set afire in a brilliant green-blue glow as four brilliant lances of sparkling energy from the _Antioch_ , moments later three lances from the _Barbara_ impacted and the shield simply evaporated. This allowed the fourth lance of energy to spear right through the bow of the destroyer, multiple explosions chained through the length of the ship as the energy blast effortlessly boiled it's way through the thin armor plating that covered the destroyer. The ship lurched violently out of formation, flames spewing from a dozen decks as it's crew obviously tried desperately to regain control.

Meanwhile twelve lances of energy streaked forth from the _Seleucia_ and splashed harmlessly across the shields of one of the enemy Battleships.

" _Eviscerate that destroyer!"_ the ship-to-ship crackled as the tactic officer on the _Barbara_ exclaimed with giggling glee at the quarry. _"With pleasure!"_ the tactical officer on the _Antioch_ replied.

Another salvo of four lances of fire streaked away from the _Antioch_ , they caught the crippled destroyer broadside on. More explosions blossomed along the length of the ship, eventually reaching the reactor and it caused the ship to turn into a star.

" _Enemy fleet is reorganizing their formation. Sonofa, damn they're bringing their Cruisers up to the front of the formation forming a phalanx, looks like their destroyers are being drawn in to run close escort with the enemy battleships."_ The tactical officer on the _Seleucia_ said sourly as the enemy fleet changed formation rather drastically.

" _Under fire!"_ The sensor officer on the _Barbara_ suddenly shouted as over thirty blue bolts of fire lashed out from the enemy Cruisers, Proton blasts. The majority of shots were split between the _Antioch_ and the _Barbara_. The worst hit was the _Barbara_ , as fifteen blue bolts of proton energy connected with the heavy destroyer, the shields flared brilliantly as they stopped the first three shots effortlessly, but by the fifth shot the shields were visibly cracking, by the eighth shot, they failed completely, literally shattering like glass and seemingly falling away from the hull of the ship. This allowed the remaining shots to tear into the Heavy Destroyer with ease, the hull erupted violently as the sparkling proton energy bolts ripped into the hull and ignited atmosphere. Escape pods launched from the Heavy Destroyer, even as secondary explosions tore the ship to pieces, the reactor gave in and the _Barbara_ turned into a brief star, complete with it's own system of co-orbiting debris.

" _Damn, so much for our range advantage in space! This isn't good."_ The tactical officer on the _Antioch_ snarled sharply.

"The _Barbara_ is down! I repeat the _Barbara_ is down! Large number of casualties!" A sensor officer on the _Phobetor_ shouted as the _Barbara_ 's identification marker went out and an escape pod counter appeared next to the greyed out name. The number was frighteningly low.

" _Take down those Cruisers! Focus fire!"_ The tactical officer on the _Seleucia_ barked.

Then both the Heavy Cruiser and the Heavy Destroyer lashed out. Lances of energy streaked away from both ships. However, the targeted ship managed to angle itself and thus it's shield. The lances of fire crashed hard into the energy barrier, yet it held firm.

Fighters began to stream from the battleships and cruisers, then boosted toward the Plaat Warships. While from the launch bays of the _Phobetor_ and _Seleucia_ their own complements of starfighters launched. More energy bolts began to criss-cross space, in some cases completely annihilating fighter squadrons. From numerous weapon ports on the Plaat Heavy Cruiser and Heavy Destroyer, missiles poured forth, hundreds of them. Enemy point-defense fire lashed out and began to down them, but nevertheless some got through and brilliant fireballs of the _cold fusion variety_ erupted among the Federation Fleet.

The Federation Fleet not to be outdone fired their own missiles, which also streaked forth, weaving through lethal point-defense fire and fighter duels. Then exploding among the Plaat ships in tremendous flashes of light as their warheads with two kilograms of _Antimatter_ detonated.

Needless to say, the light show that this rather _small_ battle was providing Earthside was incredible. But the most incredible fact? This was a mere duel between _Cruisers_ and _Destroyers_ , the Battleships hadn't even gotten involved yet.

All of the energy that was being released in space, while incredible. However, the _Phobetor_ was all but no selling the massive amounts of ordnance that was being flung her way. What good are energy bolts if they fail to hit their target or missiles if they get swatted out of existence by point-defense fire? This was the case of the _Phobetor_ as she proved why ships like her were feared on the battlefield.

" _The_ Antioch _is down with all hands!_ Antioch _is down!"_ the tactical officer on the _Seleucia_ shouted as the marker for the _Antioch_ winked out existence as her heavily damaged hull was all but annihilated by no less than a dozen Antimatter missiles hitting her.

"Damnit, please tell me we're done with our mission!" The captain of the _Phobetor_ shouted as the _Seleucia_ 's marker went from green to orange in a matter of moments as the hefty shielding the Heavy Cruiser possessed failed and the ship took several brutal hits.

"Yessir! They just completed the transport!" A bridge officer shouted.

"Good, let's show them what this Dreadnought can do!" The Captain ordered and then fiery hell poured forth from the _Phobetor_ and her engines flared and the ship advanced. Energy bolts crashed into her shields, splashed harmlessly across the protective barrier and the ship continued its advance, antimatter hellfire engulfed the ship, only for it to emerge completely unscathed.

Then she returned fire, energy blasts reached out like the finger of god and utterly obliterated several Federation cruisers in a matter of moments. Missiles beat relentlessly across her shields and energy bolts seared her shields. Yet the thing continued its inexorable advance, the Federation Battleships opened fire with everything they had, more explosions splashed across the shields and the slightest of cracks appeared in them.

Two more Federation Cruisers and three destroyers died to the _Phobetor_ 's relentless onslaught as she continued to advance. With immense flashes, Mass Driver slugs crashed into the shields at tremendous rate from the rapid-cycle mass drivers on the Federation Warships, causing pinpoint breeches to appear in the shields, allowing for the occasional mass driver shot or energy blast to bypass the shielding of the _Phobetor_ and tear into her hull.

Two more Federation Destroyers died and then suddenly with a great flash, the shielding of the _Phobetor_ failed and moments later the ship was completely and utterly destroyed. But also unknowingly destroying the only way to get the 501st back to their home dimension.

 **Halo Universe**

 **April 22nd, 2552; 1250 Hours (Military Calendar)**

 **D+03:16:45:10 (Captain Sulaiman Mission Clock)**

 **Surface of the Planet of Fumirole**

"You sure about this Commander?" Amirah asked the Spartan in charge of the Spartan team with the designation of Noble.

However to say that Amirah had changed a lot within the past twenty-four years or so, that was saying something. She had more than her fair share of scares from plasma burns, needler explosions, Covenant Carbine hits, plasma grenade explosions etc. But her armor had changed greatly as well, gone was the Kevlar-diamond weave with Carbon nanotube reinforcement, in it's place was a Titanium Nanoscale armored body suit, the armor also now had a refractive coating, meaning it was a bit more effective in stopping plasma blasts.

But the most notable change, was it's color. Gone was the olive drab of the UNSC Marine Corps, in it's place was the distinctive helmet and black armor and body suit of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, to be specific the 101st Shock Troops Division, which could draw it's heritage back to the 1940s and the 101st Airborne Division. Not only that, gone was the powerful MA5B Assault Rifle, but in it's stead, something brand new, the MA6 Gauss Rifle.

"I am Captain, that Covenant _CCS_ class Battlecruiser has any hope of evacuation cutoff. Plus while the fleet is actually winning for once in orbit, the amount of forces that _CCS_ class can carry combined with the losses were taking. We won't be able to hold this city." The Spartan, Noble Actual replied crisply.

"It's that bad?" Amirah asked shocked, she knew that they'd been having a tough time but the fact that they could actually _lose_ dirtside?

"Indeed it is. I've got a plan that Noble Team is entirely willing to do. But if it's to have any hope of working we will need regular support." Carter said, pulling out a Datapad and handing it to Amirah.

The plan that it detailed was rather brilliant. Using a Medium Fusion Destruction Device, they would run the damn thing to the Covenant Landing Zone beneath the _CCS_ class, send the thing up gravity lift and into the gullet of the Cruiser. Where once it detonated with it's fifteen kilotons of destructive fury would tear the Cruiser apart, the fragments would also wipeout the Covenant Landing Zone and clear the way for UNSC reinforcements to arrive. Problem was, they needed to achieve one hell of a breakthrough in order to do it.

"Alright, this seems like a good idea Commander, it seems like too much to do, even for six Spartans. You'll have the support of what's left of the 101st, which admittedly, after over three and half days of hard fighting isn't much, all told just two shattered Companies which if we combine them, we might get one full company. What other units have you managed to loop into this plan?" Amirah asked curiously.

"The remains of the 130th and 7th Armored Divisions, the and 12th Infantry Division, at least what's left of them. If we're lucky we might get some theater support but don't expect it." Carter replied shaking his head, Fumirole had been tough on all of them.

"That's not a lot, so we're looking at what, probably around thirty or forty tanks and maybe around two hundred to three hundred infantry?" Amirah asked, shocked.

Carter nodded. "Exactly around those numbers, throw in your ODSTs and Noble Team, then we just _might_ be able to pull this off. But with other units fighting hard along a seventy kilometer front. Plus the remains of the units we got on this and Noble Team. If we launch a focused strike, we can break through their lines and then we'll have a clear shot to our target." The Spartan explained.

"Alright, count the 101st in. Let's get this show on the roll, Commander." Amirah said and although she couldn't tell, she had a feeling that the Spartan was smiling. Together the ODST and Spartan walked out of the forlorn command center, the only building still standing in the remains of a UNSC Firebase.

Amirah got on the all-hands frequency for her unit. Because like it or not, she was basically the CO of what was left of the 101st Shock Troops Division, just really two shattered Companies, that combined might equal a single company. "Alright E Company listen up!" She barked out waiting for a moment before all of the acknowledgement lights winked green. "We're deploying with the remains of the 7th and 130th Armored Divisions as well as the 12th Army Infantry Division, and Noble Team. Noble Actual has come up with a plan to kill that _CCS_ class, but he needs our help to do it. So we're moving out to give them a hand." Amirah barked sharply.

It didn't take long for someone to bring up a point she really _wasn't in the mood for_. _"So you're telling us Captain? That ONI's freaks can't do this sort of mission by themselves and they need aid from some honest to god soldiers? I find that hard to believe."_ An ODST said in a disbelieving tone.

"Corporal Anderson, one more word out of you about how ODSTs are superior to Spartans and next time we get pinned down by a sniper, I'll use you as bait so we can kill the fucker who has us pinned!" Amirah snarled angrily, she _hated_ the ODST/Spartan rivalry; they were all on the same team here? Weren't they?

" _Yes ma'am."_ Corporal Anderson squeaked in reply.

 ***BGM: Deliver Hope Trailer Music***

A mere three hours later, pure chaos filled the ruins of Traupus City. Plasma bolts, crystalline needles, Covenant Carbine rounds, and tracers flew in every possible direction. Amirah clutched her MA6 Gauss Rifle, she was pinned behind good cover by a Covenant Shade. She snapped up and fired a burst, three 7x51mm, 10-gram ferrous slugs slashed out of the barrel and completely pulverised the Grunt gunner. Moments later a Spear rocket connected and blew the Shade emplacement apart.

"Come on!" Amirah shouted into the comms before vaulting out of cover and beginning to charge, several other ODSTs followed suite. MA6s chattering as they did so. Around them was pure chaos, Rhino, Grizzly, Scorpion, and a few of the new Lion tanks advanced, their powerful 152mm, dual 120s, 105s, and 130mm cannons and helical railguns spitting hate at the Covenant as they advanced respectively.

Around them, UNSC Army Troopers advanced, their MA5C Assault Rifles barking, sending lethal 8.6x64mm rounds down range. Suddenly as the humans ran forward, weapons blazing. The Covenant counter-attacked, Elites, Jackals, Skirmishers, and Grunts appeared, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, Plasma Repeaters, Needlers, Carbines all blazing.

An Elite Ultra roared a battle cry, it swung a lethal Energy Sword in one hand, while the other hand was clasped firmly around a Plasma Rifle. The alien threw itself at an Army fire team, killing three members with plasma bolts, beheading a fourth with it's energy sword, and then bisecting the fifth with the same weapon.

That's when Amirah caught glimpse of the Spartan that had the nuke, she was running at full tilt. She changed the orientation of the device and punched in a key code. A timer appeared in the upper right hand corner of Amirah's HUD, MFDD Detonation in 5:00:00 and counting, damn that clock was running _fast_.

"Captain! Banshees!" Someone shouted, Amirah looked up and saw a group of Banshees had launched from the enemy Cruiser. Five of the lethal craft came streaking down, their anti-gravity drives aglow as they powered forward.

Amirah, slid to get into cover. When suddenly an Ultra leaped at her, _two_ energy swords alight, but before the monster could even begin to swing down, a blue streak of light suddenly decapitated the alien and it's lifeless body succeeded in nearly decking the ODST. Suddenly another figure appeared next to her, another Spartan in Noble Team, clad in orange and black armor and wielding a massive .50 caliber machine gun which roared defiance at the enemy, sending a near constant stream of hot lead rushing forth toward the Covenant, mowing the alien bastards down with surprising ease.

Amirah caught a glimpse of Noble Actual, meleeing a Skirmisher with his DMR, even as the alien crumpled like a sack of rocks, dead; the DMR came up and the rifle cracked three times and three more Skirmishers fell dead.

Amirah glanced at the countdown, it read 2:23:07 and counting. That's when an ODST suddenly cried out in alarm. _"Shit, the package carrier is down!"_

 _Oh fuck, we need to get that thing up into that Cruiser or we're all gonna die in the biggest screw-up of UNSC Military History!_ Amirah thought as she exploded into motion, sprinting toward the downed Spartan, however someone beat her to it.

Suddenly a figure boosted skyward, the exhaust on his jet pack glowing white hot as he raced up toward the _CCS_ class Battlecruiser. Even as she glanced at the timer, which now read 01:34:12, Amirah knew that whoever was carrying that bomb wasn't going to make it out in time. The figure flew into the Covenant Cruiser and disappeared.

Just over ninety seconds later, a tremendous fireball erupted from the Cruiser's swollen midsection as the MFDD detonated and unleashed fifteen kilotons of destructive power that ripped the Cruiser apart. It's shielding flared, then rippled, before shattering and pieces of the ship from roughly amidships, pieces of alien alloy that made up the thing was hurled in all directions as the ship ceased to be.

 ***End BGM***

 **AN: So, that last bit was loosely based on the Deliver Hope Trailer from the video game Halo: Reach. As for what the MA6 Gauss Rifle is, well between this section and the next, we'll add in a chapter that has a list of Writer's Cut UNSC and Covenant Vehicles and Weapons.**

 **General, here. Well, morale will low for the Allied Forces for a good amount of time and god damn it, looks like the girls are stuck in the HALO universe for the foreseeable future. Now for the next chapter, not the weapon's chapter, let's just say there will be a lot of screaming.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Alright, so the first take of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach was a bit of a bust. But I am not giving up on this particular story, so in light of that there are going to be differences from the previous variation, but not many. Also this is AU, which means I will be making some changes or additions to the Canon as I see that it makes more sense.**

 **General: Well it is war, it make sense for new weapons and equipment to pop up. If it happened in real wars, it will happen in fictional wars.**

 **Also there will be Fanon elements which will be listed in this chapter.**

 **United Nations Space Command Navy, Air Force, Army, and Marine Equipment**

M12 Concussion Grenade: An offensive grenade that's designed to be incredibly lethal in enclosed spaces, but has severely reduced fragmentation ability when compared to the M9 HE-DP Grenade. Kills via shockwave and explosive force instead of explosive force and shrapnel.

Weight: 1.3 pounds

Diameter: 6.5 inches

Explosive filler: .22 kilograms of ComL High-Explosive

Kill Radius: 17.5 feet

Casualty Radius: 53 feet

Range: Depends on Thrower

Accuracy: Depends on thrower

Fuze Type: Impact, detonates .5 seconds after hitting a surface

Fuze Primer: Pin and spoon arrangement

MA5B-K Carbine Individual Combat Weapons System: This weapon is merely the Carbine variant of the MA5B and is also in use in the UNSC Army and UNSC Marine Corps.

Length: 75 centimeters

Height: 27.5 centimeters

Barrel length: 35.56 centimeters

Weight empty: 3.3 kilograms

Weight loaded: 4.1 kilograms

Caliber: 8.6x64mm NATO

Round type: AP-FMJ, AP-FMJ-T, Shredder rounds, and soft points

Feed system: 60-round quad-stacked detachable box magazines

Operation: Gas-operated short stroke piston, rotating bolt

Rate of Fire: 900 rounds per minute

Maximum Range: 500 meters

Effective range: 250 meters

Sights: Iron Sights or various optics

MA6 Gauss Assault Rifle: A monumental first for a UNSC weapon. It's a powerful handheld Gauss Assault Rifle, it's not a railgun like the SRS-99 series but instead it's a Coilgun and a powerful one at that. It has entered service with the Spartans and the ODSTs in late 2551 through mid 2552 and it's planned to reach the regular UNSC Army and Marine Corps through 2552 and 2553. The general appearance of these rifles is similar to the Gauss Rifles that ADVENT use in XCOM 2.

Length: 99.9 centimeters

Height: 30 centimeters

Width: 9 centimeters

Caliber: 7x51mm Ferrous slugs

Action: Short recoil, closed bolt, gauss operation

Magazine: Two-column 36-round detachable box magazine

Effective firing range: 1500 meters

Maximum firing range: 2,500 meters

Rate of Fire: 600 rounds per minute

Sights: Iron, Optical, or Smartlink

M252: Also known as the .308 Caliber Light Machine gun, it's a big contradiction of terms in the fact that it's a _close combat machine gun_ this stems from the fact that it has an absolutely _insane_ rate of fire but has downright _horrific_ recoil, this is the go to weapon short of a flamethrower if you want to kill everything living inside a room inside of ten seconds flat but at range the accuracy blows.

Length: 125 centimeters

Barrel length: 60 centimeters

Weight: 10.5 kilograms

Caliber: 7.62x51mm NATO

Feed system: belt

Effective firing range: 150 meters

Maximum Firing Range: 750 meters

Action: Gas with rotary feeding mechanism

Rate of fire: 1800 rounds per minute

Sights: Iron or Optical

M75 Spear: The M75 Spear is LAW weapon with enough punch in it to kill a Wraith from the side, it fires from a two round clip a 75mm HEAT round, it has a single tube with the magazine attaching to the left side and the user aiming through the right-side. Unlike the M41, the Spear doesn't have lock-on capability and can only fire either HEAT or HE-FRAG rockets.

Length: 105 centimeters

Weight: 9.5 kilograms

Effective Firing Range: 450 meters

Maximum firing range: 2,500 meters

HEAT Warhead Penetration: Equal to 650mm of RHA

SRS-99 Antimaterial Sniper Rifle: This weapon is a railgun rifle and is capable of hurling a rather small ferrous slug down range at incredible velocity. The weapon has been the standard issue weapon in the UNSC since the 2510s replacing the older M99 Stanchion rifles, improvements include a detachable/replaceable battery pack built into the stock, a more powerful scope, a heavier projectile, and a slightly larger magazine. This thing fires one of the few rounds that can actually cleave through the front of a Grizzly Main Battle Tank and is probably one of only a few weapons that can tear through a deployed Jackal Gauntlet Shield and still have enough power to tear the Avian Sonofabitch behind the thing in two.

Length: 168 centimeters

Height: 20 centimeters

Width: 7 centimeters

Caliber: 7.62mm 12 gram projectile

Muzzle velocity: 12,000 kilometers per second

Action: Semi-Automatic

Magazine size: Fifteen round detachable box magazine

Optics: 4 power and 10 power capable Oracle Scope with Smart Link scope capability

Maximum range: Over ten kilometers

Effective range: Over seven kilometers

M415 Cougar AIFV: This dependable vehicle has been serving in the UNSC since the year 2515. It's reasonably fast and packs one hell of a punch. This vehicle is capable of carrying up to twelve fully equipped troops into combat and it can be carried by a Pelican Dropship. It has six wheels and is capable of still maneuvering with two of it's tires deflated and it's also amphibious. To get an idea of what the Cougar looks like, look up it's concept art from Halo Wars.

Length: 6.5 meters

Width: 3 meters

Height: 3.3 meters

Weight: 15 tons

Crew: 2 (Driver, Commander/Gunner)

Passengers: Twelve

Main Armament: M68 Asynchronous Linear Induction Motor _or_ 50mm MLA Autocannon _or_ dual 30mm autocannons

Secondary Armament: M247 GPMG _or_ AIE-486H HMG

Engine: V8, 1200 horsepower Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine

Armor: Ceramics and Titanium-A, sufficient to stop 50mm APFSDS rounds frontally and 30mm APFSDS from the side.

D78-TC Pelican Dropship: To get an idea of what this looks like look at the concept art for the Pelican Dropship for Halo: Reach. This Pelican is the newest model in the line, capable of carrying a larger number of troops than it's predecessor the D77-TC Pelican Dropship.

Length overall: 35 meters

Troop bay: 8 meters

Wing span: 27 meters

Troop Bay width: 4.65 meters

Height: 10 meters, 10.5 meters with landing gear

Troop bay height: 3.23 meters

Engine units: two thrust-vectoring pods on the stern of the ship each with two thrusters and each engine unit contains a thruster, the wings can also rotate to the vertical position as can the aft control surfaces which also contain thruster units.

Passenger bay: Twelve seats internally plus room for five more troops standing up

Armament: 70mm Rotary Chain Gun, 40mm gun pods, ANVIL-II Missile Pods

Countermeasures: Flares and Chaff

M145B Rhino Tank: In a way, the M145B Rhino can be best described as the designers looked at the Grizzly tank and decided to ramp everything up. The M145B is one machine you _don't_ want to be on the receiving end of.

Length: 15.6 meters

Width: 9 meters

Height: 7.5 meters

Weight: 82 tons

Crew: Three, Commander/Gunner, machine gunner, and Driver or One Cyborg

Powerplant: 1800 horsepower twin variable geometry turbocharged V-12 Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine

Main Armament: 152mm/55 caliber autoloading gun capable of firing AP Spikes, HEAT rounds, ATGMs, HE-FRAG, and Canister

Secondary Armament: M247H HMG mounted in a turret and two coaxial M247T machine guns

Armor: Titanium-C, Composites, Nanocrystal steel

M315 Lion MBT: This monstrous brute of a tank is in the process of replacing the older Scorpion and Grizzly Tanks as well as to a degree the Rhinos. It's big, powerful, and above all else _tough_. The thing first entered service in the year 2552. It appears to be a bastardized cross between a T-90A and a MBT-6 Predator.

Length: 12.5 meters

Width: 9 meters

Height: 10 meters

Weight: 75 tons

Crew: Three (Commander, gunner, driver) or One Cyborg

Power plant: Hydrogen fueled turbine engine generating 3000 horsepower

Armament: 130mm Helical Railgun, M41 LAAG _or_ 40mm Grenade Launcher for the commander's station, 20mm coaxial cannon _or_ two AIE-486H HMGs. Main gun is capable of firing HEAT, HESH, AP Spikes, Canister, and HE

Armor: Titanium-C, Nanocrystal steel, composites

Countermeasures: Laser dazzlers, infrared jammers, smoke grenades, and a TROPHY System

M175 Kodiak: Looks like the Kodiak from Halo Wars 2; armed with a 155mm/62 caliber cannon.

F-203 Rapier Interceptor: This Aerospace Fighter is quite literally the newest thing in UNSC Aerospace Fighter Technology having entered service in the year 2550. It's easily a match for the _Seraph_ class Fighter in terms of agility. Shaped like a F/A-37 Talon Fighter from the movie Stealth that's going Hypersonic.

Length: 45 meters

Width: 24 meters

Height: 7 meters

Propulsion: Two primary fusion torches and a multiple maneuvering thrusters

Main Armament: Two 70mm rotary cannons

Hardpoints: Fourteen capable of carrying ASGM-10 Missiles, ANVIL-IIs, ANVIL-IVs, GBU-350s, Scorpion Missiles, or Havok Nuclear Missiles.

Crew: 1

Armor: 2 centimeters of Titanium-C

Countermeasures: Flares, Chaff, ECM jamming

 _Talos_ class Destroyer Leader: Roughly arrowhead shaped and at first glance looks like a _Halberd_ class destroyer that's been lengthened and has been mated with the stern of a _Paris_ class Heavy Frigate, is one of the first ship classes in the UNSC fleet that has reverse-engineered Covenant Anti-Gravity Technology built into it, allowing it to operate in atmosphere. The ship is designed to lead Heavy Frigate, Destroyer, and Ground Combat Support Divisions into battle by giving them a major boost in terms of being able to effectively command as well as in the case of Heavy Frigates more firepower. The ship is also one the first classes of UNSC ship in that the command deck is buried within the ship making it much harder to mission kill with a direct shot to the bridge for it's buried within the armored hull.

Length: 750 meters

Width: 200 meters

Height: 85 meters

Propulsion: Fusion Drives

Armor: 1.5 meters of Titanium-C Battleplate, with thirty centimeters of composite armor underneath

Shielding: None

Sensors and Processing: Radar, Lidar, thermal imaging, visual sensors, and in some cases either a 'dumb' or 'smart' Artificial Intelligence

Countermeasures: ECM Jammers, flares, chaff, and Emergency Thrusters

Slipspace drive: Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Drive

Armament: Two Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, forty Oversized Archer Missile Pods, six single barreled 15cm Ognar Railguns, four fifty-megaton Harpoon Nuclear Missiles, and sixteen 50mm MLA autocannons

 _Atlantis_ class Dreadnought: This massive warship is based on the hull frame of the _Punic_ class Supercarrier, but it's more combat oriented. It still carries an Aerospace wing but not as many as a _Punic_ class Warship. These ships are incredibly tough and incredibly powerful, with the arrival of an _Atlantis_ class and it's battlegroup usually proving a huge morale boost to UNSC Space Forces.

Length: 4,050 meters

Width: 175 meters

Height: 650 meters

Propulsion: Fusion Drives

Armor: 10 meters of Titanium-C Battleplate with 2 meters of composite armor underneath

Shielding: None

Sensors and Processing: Radar, Lidar, Thermal Imaging, visual sensors, etc. and an AI usually a "Smart" AI.

Countermeasures: ECM, Flares, Chaff, and Emergency Thrusters

Slipspace Drive: Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Drive

Armament: Three Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, seventy-five Oversized Archer Missile Pods, seven _Shiva_ class Nuclear Missiles, four Havok Nuclear Missiles, twenty dual-barreled 15cm Ognar Railguns, and forty 50mm MLA autocannons

Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor Mark V: This is the newest variant of Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor, it's more durable, more powerful, and better than any other Power Armor in service with the UNSC, the downside is that only Spartans can use it. However improvements that the armor has includes energy shields reverse engineered from Jackal Point Defense Gauntlets, the armor panels that are over the armored body suit are only slightly thicker than on the Mark IV model, but that's because we've recently succeeded in reverse engineering the alloy that the Covenant uses for vehicle and starship armor, the individual plates have a thin-sheet of this so-called Nanolaminate yet it greatly increases protection against energy bursts, particularly when combined with the refractive layer. This means that instead of being able to take three shots before being breached, the armor can take six to seven shots from Plasma weapons and is virtually impervious to ballistic weapons fire, ball rounds can only dimple the armor and most AP rounds struggle to penetrate it. The armored bodysuit is made of Titanium-C Nanocomposite, now it's not as durable as the actual armor plates, but thanks to improvements in the refractive layer, it can resist up to four plasma blasts before failing. There are also dozens of minor technical improvements over the older Mark IV.

 **Covenant Empire Writer's cut vehicles and equipment**

Type-28 Plasma Cannon Assault Carriage: In terms of appearance, it's your bog standard Wraith with the notable exception being that the Plasma Mortar is replaced with a Heavy Plasma Cannon, that way the Wraith can actually stand a chance against UNSC Armor.

Length: 8.8 meters

Width: 9.2 meters

Height: 4.4 meters

Weight: 49 tonnes

Max speed: 40 kilometers per hour or 127 kilometers per hour when boost is engaged

Propulsion: Boosted Gravity Propulsion Drive

Armament: One Heavy Plasma Cannon and two automated Plasma Cannons pre-2549 models, post 2549 models replaces the automated Plasma Cannons with a secondary plasma turret

Crew: Two

Type-4 Anti-vehicle grenade: This grenade first appeared in 2538 and while it's technically an Anti-vehicle grenade, when needed the Covenant Elites and Brutes will start throwing the damn things around like cotton candy at a Halloween Party. It's roughly oval shaped and has a number of spikes on it's exterior allowing it when thrown with sufficient force to stick to objects. What's worse is that it has a small amount of Antimatter

Length: 14 centimeters

Weight: 3.8 kilograms

Filler: Estimated to be 10 grams of Antimatter

Range: As far it can be thrown

Accuracy: As accurately as the thrower can be

Kill radius: Five meters

Casualty Radius: Ten meters

Fuse: Three seconds after either hitting the ground or sticking to an object

UNSC Remarks:

" _It's basically a hand thrown 60mm Mortar round. It will really fuck-up your day, that's for sure."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _Yeah, you really got to figure out where the activation glyph on the thing is. Once activated one of these suckers by accident, thank god the designers made sure that if you did activate it, that it would start beeping. Scary as shit though when it suddenly starts beeping without warning."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _Oh man! It was the craziest thing I ever saw, once Sergeant Sulaiman got ahold of that sucker she primed it and then threw it, somehow managed to hit the exposed of the midsection on that Hunter from range of fifteen meters or so. Blew him and his ugly bastard of a friend to pieces!"_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

Type-45 Directed Energy Weapon/Carbine: Oddly enough, this is a Particle Weapon variant of the Covenant's lethal Carbine. It's unique in the fact that it uses disposable energy cells. Problem is that it isn't as accurate as the regular projectile based variant of the Covenant Carbine, plus it's also not as deadly as the various models of Particle Beam Rifles we've seen the Covenant use, so it's possible that this thing is mere a DMR variant.

Length O/V: 128 centimeters

Barrel Length: 60 centimeters

Width: 17 centimeters

Height: 46 centimeters

Weight empty: 7 kilograms

Weight loaded: 9 kilograms

Magazine size: Thirty rounds

Magazine Type: Self-ejecting Energy Cell

Feed system: Semi-auto

Accuracy: Medium-High

Range: 1,500 meters

UNSC Remarks

" _It's similar to the regular Covenant Carbine in the fact that you really need to figure out what the glyphs mean. When that sucker's energy cell automatically ejected, well if it wasn't for my helmet it would've brained me."_ Anonymous UNSC Servicewoman

" _It's powerful that's for sure. This thing will tear down the Shields of a split-lip_ easily _, of course it'll also tear through a Wolverine like paper that's been attacked with a blowtorch."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _I am not so sure about the Spooks thinking this is a DMR variant of the Particle Beam Rifles we often see. There have been times when it seems that you get Hingeheads, Yetis, and Skirmishers armed with this thing out of a vending machine, I seriously hate it when that happens."_ First Lieutenant Sulaiman

Type-49 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved: This appears to be a completely new variant of the Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle, the rate of fire is about the same, roughly about 400 to 450 shots per minute, but it has a longer barrel, a modular coil set, and a high mounted cooling shroud. This gives the weapon longer effective range, more velocity in it's shots, and the ability to fire more shots before overheating. For appearance basically think Storm Rifle.

Length O/V: 130 centimeters

Barrel length: 55 centimeters

Maximum ammunition: Battery, 100 units

Power output: 110 - 160 kilowatts at 2.5 - 3.5 dA

Action: Automatic

Rate of fire: 400 - 525 rounds per minute

Accuracy: Medium

Range: 685 meters

Muzzle velocity: 350 meters per second

UNSC Remarks:

" _I've got the same complaints that I do with the damn Plasma Rifle, no visible Iron sights, I mean, how the foxtrot do the Baby-kong's aim this thing? Just give it some proper sights and I'll use this over my MA5 any day."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman.

" _Gotta hand it to the Covies, just when I thought that the Covies had revealed everything that they had. They unveil this foxtrotting thing, never thought that for once I would rather face Hinge-heads with Ray Guns and regular Plasma Rifles then face Hinge-heads with this monster."_ First Lieutenant Sulaiman

Type-39 Rifle: Appears to be the full sized variant of the Type-25 Carbine. It's a magazine-fed, rail-type weapon. It has a much longer barrel, thus higher muzzle velocity but the same sized magazine when compared to the Type-25 Carbine, attached to the end of the weapon is a wicked blade. The projectiles themselves weigh a considerable amount and if it wasn't for that fact, these things would be rather harmless. It's used exclusively by the Brutes.

Length O/V: 135 centimeters

Barrel length: 65 centimeters

Weight empty: 6.9 kilograms

Weight loaded: 7.3 kilograms

Magazine size: 40 rounds

Muzzle velocity: 200 meters per second

Accuracy: high at close range, medium-low at medium range

Range: short to medium range (274 m)

UNSC Remarks:

" _This thing is massive and it weighs an absolute ton, metaphorically speaking. Then again, when you compare Sasquatch to us, then you'll understand why."_ Anonymous UNSC Servicewoman

" _Don't underestimate that Bayonet-meat cleaver thing on the end of the damn Spike Rifle. Because the Bravo-Kilo swinging that thing, it can and will cleave right through the armored body suit of a Wolverine Powered Combat Exoskeleton and the appendage or neck underneath it like a hot knife through butter."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _These things, when they've been fired. They create the same sort of smell that the Spike Carbine creates. You know you're heading toward a firefight where these things are being used if it smells like a barbeque gone wrong."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _Those rifles? We call them Meat Scorchers because my god those things make the one of the worse smells you can imagine. Is it uncommon to feel sick from that? No, it is more weird if you are not sick by it well at least the first time smelling that. I have faced those things several times and I still feel like I am about to lose my lunch."_ Second Lieutenant Sulaiman.

Type-4 Energy Weapon/Bayonet: This is a bit of an oddity in the fact that it's an Energy Bayonet. Probably thought up by some Elite after seeing the devastating effect a Bayonet Charge can have on your enemy and decided that they needed their own counter to that. It's been used to devastating effect against our troops ever since it first appeared in the mid 2530s. The blade is what would amount to a Socket-type Bayonet with a Spike-type bayonet blade.

Weight: two kilograms

Blade length: 10 inches

UNSC Remarks

" _I'll never forget the first time I was on the receiving end of a Covie Bayonet Charge. Christ, anyone this Elite suddenly roared new orders in English 'Fix Bayonets!' and my exact reaction was 'Huh?' then it became clear that the Covies took a page out of our books, for suddenly Elites of various ranks pulled out this strange device and then with something akin to a blood-thirsty roar they ignited those things, brandished them to us as if they were showing off their new toys, and then with something akin to a metallic clatter stuck those things on the ends of their weapons. Then the Hinge-head who ordered his unit to fix Bayonets then gave a single order while brandishing his own Energy Sword. "Charge!" I am not sure who broke and ran first, but they managed to get the entirety of at least two maybe even three ODST Companies to break and run."_ Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

" _Do not remind me of those stupid bayonets, I almost lost an arm from a Covie Bayonet Charge. Damn, I wonder where the hell they got the ancient books on bayonet charges? Hell even those ancient warriors would be scared shitless from the Covie's copy. And if you thought one was bad enough, try getting charged at for four days straight, spoiler, it doesn't end well when from 5 companies, all that was left was an understrength company. That's one hell of a way to get PTSD."_ Captain Sulaiman


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Howdy folks! Here's another chapter of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach. Now this chapter will have mainly training, of the military variety. But since it's not special forces training, it's not Training from Hell, but it'll still be very tough. Anything you want to add General?**

 **General: I CAN'T HEAR YOU, MAGGOTS! Nah, not really. Though a certain sergeant will be making a cameo.**

 **Halo Universe**

 **Shackleton Aerospace Fighter Training School, Luna**

 **February 22nd, 2533, 0800 Hours (Military Calendar)**

Shackleton Aerospace Fighter Training School was vastly different from the vast majority of training facilities scattered throughout the UNSC for the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. This facility was one of just a few locations throughout UNSC Space where Aerospace Fighter Pilots learned the tools of their trade. The curriculum here covered a wide variety of subjects, from both theory and practical application of the rules of dogfighting which had surprisingly remained unchanged since their inception some six hundred nineteen or so years ago, to learning how to survive being shot down in the vacuum and microgravity of space in just your -albeit incredibly advanced- flight suit for several hours or longer.

But there was another reason why Shackleton Aerospace Fighter Training School was unique among training schools scattered throughout not only Sol, but also the various colonies. It was located just five kilometers from the southeastern rim of Shackleton Crater on Luna, this 3.6 billion year old twenty-one kilometer wide four point two kilometer deep impact crater located almost exactly on the Moon's South Pole had been the location of the first colony on the Moon which had been established in the year 2020. There was several reasons for this, with one of the purposes being so that pilots could get used to landing and changing environments _simultaneously_ from microgravity to roughly one standard gee thanks to the invention of artificial gravity generators in the late 2480s.

The men and women who came here, learned their trade first in the classroom, followed by trips in the simulator, followed by flights in the trainer craft, then by flights with an instructor flying with them in formation, and lastly with solo flights with mostly trainees and only a few instructor. The craft that trainees were trained to fly varied between two separate Longsword variants, the absolutely massive C709 which was mainly used as a Heavy Bomber and the smaller C710 Interceptor, that is until recently as the war against Covenant revealed that while both the C709 and C710 were great at what they did, their was a serious need for fighters that could be operate in both roles at a moments notice or even perform the role of a fighter during one part of its mission as a bomber in the next part and then as a fighter again. Thus out of that need the F-41 XMSF Broadsword was born. However new squadrons equipped with the F-41 was frantically needed, thus the training of replacements for the Interceptor and Heavy Bomber Squadrons had sort of gone to the back burner, while new F-41 Squadrons were formed.

With the faint metallic clatter, the intercom system within the school buildings came to life and then the sharp flaring notes of Reveille played over the system.

"RISE AND SHINE LADIES!"

Erica groaned and out of instinct sat up. She was obviously in a barrack of some kind. More importantly however, she saw that Gertrude was scrambling out of bed with a vigorous haste that she'd never seen in her friend before, deciding that whatever was causing that and how it meant that she didn't want to be on the receiving end, she scrambled out of bed and more or less followed the motions that Gertrude was doing. That turned out to be a good thing, for a few moments later, a tall man, probably around five foot eight or so in height, he had slim-shoulders, was wearing basic clothes, just a light blue cap, with a dark grey shirt and dark grey pants, and lastly to top the assembly off he had a Navy blue aiguillette on his left shoulder. But another thing of note was that this man carried an air of authority an absolutely towering pillar of authority, this was a man who if you didn't respect him, he'd be your worst nightmare and if you did respect you, well he'd still be tough to work with but it would be manageable. Erica watched as the man looked around the room but she could tell he was more focused on their bunks as if it has become a bit of a routine for the man but it is not surprising as he was her drill instructor.

Which that in itself meant that the upcoming weeks and probably months were _not_ going to be fun at all. Oh joy.

"Alright recruits listen up, when I walk into a barracks room, I will get an impression of the recruits I will be having to deal with for the next SIX months and let me tell you lot right now, I am NOT impressed. Do you understand me, recruits?"

"SIR YES SIR!" Erica, Gertrude and the rest of the recruits barked.

"NOW GET ON THE GROUND AND GIVE ME FIFTY!" The Drill Instructor barked.

" _Well off to a GREAT start already._ " Erica grumbled internally as she got down to the floor with the rest of the recruits and started doing push ups. While she was doing that, a small part of her mind noted that if anything she seemed quite a bit taller and older in appearance, that and it seemed that Gertrude had gone through a similar change. Regardless Erica ignored it and focused on the task at hand.

The training was hard with several recruits dropping out however Erica and Gertrude soldiered through as hard as the training on the ground was, the flying sections were not. It was where they excelled even if it was in a simulator. It was in their third week in training when they were told to head to the Superintendent's office. This made them nervous.

The Superintendent's office was a rather subtle affair, there was a large dark wood desk in front of a good-sized window that looked out over the Lunar Surface. Up against the right wall were several bookshelfs filled with books and one the left wall was a mere trophy case that contained several awards and models, including one of a very distinctive Fighter Jet. On the desk itself was a simple wooden sign that read 'Vice Admiral Mike "Viper" Metcalf' and that was about it.

"Airman Recruit Hartmann!/Airman Recruit Barkhorn! Reporting as ordered sir!" They chorused in unison and came to attention.

"At ease" Viper said the two relaxed. "Now, I bet you're wondering why I called you two up here." He said calmly and the two nodded together. "Well relax, you aren't in trouble. On the contrary, if anything I am surprised, particularly because of your scores in the Broadsword simulator." He continued.

"Sir?" Erica asked confused.

"What I mean recruit is that the scores you two are constantly displaying in the Broadsword simulators. It's making me raise an eyebrow because it's only about a hundred or so points below the bare minimum of requirements for Interceptor pilot training." Viper said pausing and taking a breath. "Normally I wouldn't be pulling this up if this was something that occurred once or twice in the Broadsword simulators. But, you two are doing it _consistently_ which has garnered my attention. This is incredible because of the fact that the Broadsword is nowhere as good in terms of speed and acceleration when compared to the C710 Longsword, yet you're pushing the envelope of what is feasibly possible in the Broadsword and getting results that are very impressive. Thus the head of the Multirole Syllabus came to me personally and requested something that hasn't happened at this school in over twenty years, he requested that you're transferred from the Multirole Syllabus and into the Interceptor Syllabus. After watching you're last three days in the simulator when you were doing combat sims, I was beyond impressed and thus completely agree with him." Viper said.

To Erica and Gertrude's credit, while they did show surprise, they managed to school it so that it wasn't overly obvious. But it was still somewhat noticeable, which to be fair considering what they had just heard the fact that they'd managed to school their surprise was incredible in itself.

"Sir, I-" Gertrude began, only to stop and shake her head.

Viper smiled. "I know, it's a lot to take in. Still, we need pilots like you two in this damn war. Anything to give us an edge against the Covenant in space. It would be an incredible waste of your talents to have you flying Broadswords when you should really be flying Longswords, to be specific the C710, you two are both born pilots and have a level of skill that I have never seen before. Now, just to make it official." He said before pulling out two separate data chips and handing one to each trainee. "Those data chips contain your new course schedules, the manual for the C710 Longsword, and your new course syllabuses. Now then, in light of that I am giving you the rest of the day in order to look over your schedule, familiarize yourself with the C710 Longsword, and review your syllabuses. Clear?" He finished.

"Clear, sir!" The two recruits chorused in unison.

"Good, dismissed." Viper said and the two recruits then left the office after exchanging another series of salutes. Once they were outside of Viper's office and heading back toward the barracks, Gertrude glanced at Erica. "I didn't expect that at all. I can't believe we've been transfered to the Interceptor Syllabus." She said, shaking her head in disbelief at what had just happened.

"I am not complaining, the C710 Longsword seems much more capable than the Broadsword, of course there have been several times where I've been in the simulator and after I've completed a simulated mission. The instructor would say that with the way I was on occasion throwing the Broadsword around, it's very likely that there would've been fatigue in the space frame had that craft been real." Erica replied and Gertrude laughed in response.

"Not surprised at that Bubi, not surprised at all." Gertrude replied whimsically.

Of course, the two quickly found out that the training to become a C710 Longsword Interceptor pilot was a whole other kettle of fish when compared to the training to become a Multirole Pilot. The physical training was tougher, the classes were harder, the number of hours required per week in the simulator was higher, and in general it was all around more difficult. But despite that fact, Erica and Gertrude learned to thrive on the challenge, the harder they were pushed the better they got.

Then of course, the second term rolled around and the two were finally introduced to the C710 Longsword in person. To say that it was intimidating was an understatement, it's sharp angular form with tinted cockpit windows, and the large imposing barrels of it's main armament gave the thing a predatory vibe. It was the look of a fighter that looked like it could tangle with the meanest single ships on the block and win.

"This recruits is the Misriah Armory C710 _Longsword_ class Interceptor, this powerful beast of a machine is 35 meters long, 40 meters wide, and is 13 meters tall. It's powered by a Deuterium fueled Helium-3 boosted Fusion Reactor while it's hull is protected by ten centimeters of Titanium-C Battleplate. In addition to that as I am certain you're aware recruits it's armed with two seven-barreled 50mm rotary cannons each one capable of firing 4,000 rounds per minute, for additional weapons the C710 is equipped with ten hardpoints carried internally that can be equipped with a variety of missiles including AIM-354 Evolved Space Phoenix LRAAMs, AIM-435 Enhanced Space Sparrow AMRAAMs, or HAVOK Variant-V Nuclear Missiles, as you also know, this craft is equipped with Flare and Chaff dispensers as well as ECM jammers. For flight crew, the fighter has a human crew of two, a Pilot and a RIO sitting side-by-side in the cockpit, while for sensors and processing, it has a top of the line navigation suite, a powerful active/passive lidar and radar suite and a passive thermal imaging suite. Yet today marks a massive change in your training. The number of simulator hours required per week has been slashed to a quarter and before you all go celebrating, that's because you are to finally get into the cockpit of these monsters. Let's get started."

With that the various recruits went into the changing room and exchanged their utilities for their flight suits. The flight suit themselves was composed of a Titanium-C Nanocomposite armored bodysuit with gee-suit capability, for protection it appeared that several quarter-inch thick pieces of Titanium-C had been seemingly grafted onto the bodysuit providing additional protection -although at best it would only stop fragments if the cockpit got hit and would probably not even provide any sort of resistance against something like a 30mm cannon round- the flight helmet provided full protection and was part of the reason why downed pilots could survive for several hours in vacuum. The helmet itself was actually based to a degree on the flight helmets of the 21st century, to be specific similar the one developed for a fighter that was some five hundred eighteen years ago for a fighter plane called the F-35 Lightning II, the biggest differences was that it got rid of the oxygen mask and thus went for a full helmet, thanks to the suit's integrated oxygen tank and the helmet's integrated closed-circuit rebreather meant the suit's built in air supply could last for several hours; other features included the ability for the visor to automatically polarize, an advanced HUD that really hadn't changed since the so called 'Ace Combat' style HUDs of the 2200s. The boots that went with the flightsuit were designed so that they fitted seamlessly with the body suit of the flight suit and thus provided a seal that could withstand being in vacuum while still being comfortable and the same was true with the gloves. On the left sleeve of the flight suit, seemingly embroidered into the Nanocomposite Titanium weave was the patch for VT-86, the Sabrehawks, a mere training squadron and one of six such training squadrons assigned to Shackelton.

An interesting oddity was that while the standard issue flight suit for the UNSC had it's own atmosphere supply, the cabin of the C709 and C710 Longsword was pressurized and had oxygen scrubbers. This steamed from the fact that sometimes Longswords were used as shuttles to ferry VIPs from place to place and thus personal flight suits for people like that weren't available. However the F-41 Broadsword, with its bubble canopy and crew of one meant that the craft carried it's own onboard life support and the pilot's flightsuit still had it's own onboard life support. The reasoning behind this stemmed from the fact that it was better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.

"You excited Bubi?" A fellow recruit asked as he finished putting his helmet on.

Erica sighed internally. Her callsign of 'Bubi' had originated from the fact that Gertrude had made the mistake of using that moniker to get her attention once in the mess hall. Several other recruits had heard it and after putting two and two together, combined with how young she looked even though she was only eighteen or so -where the hell had that thought come from?- and the fact that she appeared to be only around sixteen, didn't help matters. Before long 'Bubi' had stuck as her aviator call sign, much to her dismay.

"Hell yeah I am Cougar, I mean we're finally getting out of the simulators and going up in the real-thing. Even if it's only the instructor variant, we're finally getting actual cockpit experience." Erica replied with a broad smile.

"I feel ya there mate. Still, I have to admit though. At least your call sign rolls off the tongue better particularly when compared to your token bud's." Cougar said and Erica nodded in agreement, Gertrude just because of the fact she was very stoic and very calm in the vast majority of situations had led to someone giving her the nickname of "Ice Queen" much to Gertrude's dismay and as much as she tried to fight it, the more that it seemed to stick. She'd all but given up in terms of trying to fight it, which had to be a first for her close friend.

"I agree there, let's get to the hangar." Cougar said and together the two walked out. They were roughly in the middle in terms of the stream of recruits that was walking out of the changing room. After the last of the recruits came out of the changing room, clad in a standard UNSC Flight suit and holding their helmet under their arm, they were split-up with one recruit and instructor per plane.

Still, Erica was excited and after doing a preflight checklist sat herself down in the pilot's seat of the C710 Longsword and then started the power-up procedure. Almost immediately she noticed something different from the start-up procedure in the simulator. For after she engaged the reactor, a low rumble built through the frame of the craft and it was the sort of rumble you felt in your bones.

The radio crackled to life and someone had decided that it was a good idea to play the full opening anthem from some movie made in 1986. _"Alright, who the hell is playing the Top Gun Anthem?"_ One of the instructors asked as the Longsword was slowly guided into it's launch tube. The launch tube was the one part of the launch procedure that Erica _didn't_ like, mainly because well the launch tube was akin to really a glorified railgun designed to hurl Longswords and now Broadswords into the black at combat speeds without the need for them to race out of a hanger bay and thus removing the need for them to accelerate up to their combat speed which could take precious seconds and seconds could be vital in a combat zone, that and it also helped the single ships get past their parent's ship flak field. Problem was, when this sucker engaged the pilot often experienced up to fifteen gees of acceleration force, it was often unpleasant.

" _Alright Sabrehawk Two, you're cleared for departure hang onto your helmet."_ The flight controller said and then with a feeling of great acceleration the C710 Longsword was physically hurled down the launch tube as the circuit completed and the rails unleashed their power. Erica grunted as a giant's hand seemingly shoved her physically into the back of her seat and the craft leaped out of the launch tube and she instinctively pulled up and the Longsword streaked up and away from Shackleton Aerospace Fighter Training School.

"That's good enough." Her instructor said and Erica leveled out, she then listened to the craft. The hearty rumble of it's powerful Fusion Reactor and the low yet noticeable whine of it's mighty thrusters that pushed it forward through the vacuum of space. She glanced out the windows on the right and saw an image that no matter how many times she saw it, whether from the surface of Luna or now in a Longsword took her breath away. Seemingly floating in the inky blackness of space was what appeared to be an oversized blue and green marble, a planet known only by it's name of Earth. The cradle for humanity it really boggled her mind that not even two hundred fifty years ago, mankind was restricted only to Sol System.

"Alright, let us begin." The instructor said and then the day's cockpit training began in earnest.

 **1345 Hours, September 3rd, 2533 (Military Calendar)**

 **Shackleton Aerospace Fighter Training School**

 **Luna, Sol System**

"Hey Ice Queen! Have you found out what your assignment in the fleet is going to be?" Erica called as she trotted after her best friend. The two had been through alot together throughout last six months.

Gertrude turned and smiled at Erica. "Yep, I just did. I've been assigned to VF-300 the White Tigers. There currently stationed on the UNSC _Vikrant_ , which is currently assigned to Battlegroup India." She said with a smile as she looked at her best friend, but then frowned as she saw that Erica's shoulders had slumped.

"I got assigned to VF-103, The Jolly Rogers; there currently stationed on the UNSC _Yuri Gagarin_ which is actually rather ironic, but the _Yuri Gagarin_ is also in Battlegroup India." Erica said her shoulders still slumped.

"Why the long face? We're going to be in the same Battlegroup, besides even if we are on different ships at least we'll still be in comm range of each other." Gertrude asked.

"It's just that well, we're going to be in different squadrons and assigned to different ships to boot. It'll be different, serving on different ships I guess. Just not really something I am expecting." Erica said, looking at Gertrude who to her surprised just grunted in agreement.

"I'll tell you right now. I wasn't expecting it either, but that's military life for ya, when do you ship out?" Gertrude asked calmly.

"The 15th, you?" Erica replied.

"Same here." Gertrude said.

 **0800 Hours, March 8th, 2551 (Military Calendar)**

 **Military Reservation 01478-A**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach**

Military Reservation 01478-A was in many ways the odd cousin to Military Reservation 01478-B, with the main differences between the two being that 01478-B trained Marines and ODSTs while 01478-A primarily focused on the UNSC Army although on occasion ODST units would arrive at 01478-A for either R&R or training. Still, the air was crisp and cool, in the pale blue sky hung two moons, including a large ringed one. There was a sense of calm in the air, but it was a calm that wasn't too last. For over six hundred young and men women, their first day of Army Boot Camp was about to begin.

That, Drill Sergeant Hartman noted was the part of the job he didn't like. The Human-Covenant War had been going on for so long and so badly. Just about everyone was sick of it, hell even him. He had been lucky to survive his tour on Harvest, he fought on that hell-hole of a world for three and half years till the detonation of a Plasma Grenade nearly killed him. Somehow he'd managed to stay in the service and had become a tough as hell Drill Sergeant. The one thing that drove him nuts was when he would look at the casualty reports for some campaign on a god-forsaken rock and see that several divisions were just _gone_ , completely and utterly wiped out. At times, they'd been forced to forge new units literally from scratch. He couldn't even begin to count how many times the 1st Infantry Division aka The Big Red One had to be reformed, it had gotten to the point that it was becoming a joke among veteran officers and soldierswith many calling it the Never Dying One, and to make matters even worse, not even ODST units were immune to this like the current 101st Shock Troops Division is the third division with that name and likewise the same was true for the 35th Shock Troops Division a unit with Israeli lineage has had to have been rebuilt practically from scratch on five separate occasions. It was disturbing to say the least, particularly because ODSTs were the best non-augmented forces in the UNSC and that every single one of the five ODST Divisions in existence has had to have been rebuilt from scratch at least twice, it was disheartening. Of course, God Forbid that the damn Covenant find Reach, then humanity was simply done-for, they would be right on Earth's doorstep.

He glanced at his watch and smiled. It was 0800 and thus time to begin, he glanced at the bugler and nodded, he'd made sure to place a megaphone in front of the man. The bugler began playing Reveille and the megaphone promptly increased the volume of tune greatly. To such a degree in fact that carried over the vast majority of the compound. Once that tune was complete, he then went to enter barracks A.

But before he did so, he looked over his datapad and grimaced. "Are they seriously going to reconstitute the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_? That unit was absolutely slaughtered, killed to a man at the Battle of New Constantinople in 2537, not even the logistic guys had survived." He muttered shocked that the military had decided to dredge up a long since dead Infantry Division and reconstitute it.

First minor bombshell of the day taken care-off. He was now ready to initiate "Hell Week" as it was called. He opened the door and all but roared "WAKE-UP MAGGOTS!" and smiled ever-so-slightly as the few people who were groggily awake and changing leaped at least a foot into the air in shock and surprise. While the ones who were still in bed rolled frantically out of bed often falling to the floor with a _thud_ , a few sounded rather painful but he heard no bones snapping so that was a good sign, that was usually _very_ awkward having to have someone within the first five minutes of Boot camp get sent to medical because they broken their arm rolling out of bed.

"HURRY UP MAGGOTS! YOU GOT FIVE SECONDS TO GET UP BEFORE I GO AROUND KICKING YOUR ASSES!" Hartman barked as he watched the recruits scramble to get up. He noticed there was a number of girls in this batch of recruits. _Damn, the draft can be so damn brutal at times_. He thought sourly.

"ABOUT GODDAMN TIME YOU MAGGOTS WOKE UP, I ALMOST THOUGHT YOU ALL WERE ALREADY DEAD BUT LUCKILY FOR ME, THAT IS NOT TRUE." Hartman barked. The room was thick with tension and fear as the recruits stood at attention. _Now let's see who will be the idiot this time, because there's always one in every crowd_.

"Alright maggots, listen up. From now on, you speak only you are spoken to and the first and last thing out your pipe holes is sir, do I make myself clear?" Hartman barked.

"Sir yes sir!" The recruits replied.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU MAGGOTS!" Hartman snapped.

"SIR YES SIR!" The recruits barked.

"WHAT ARE YOU? A BUNCH OF BABIES? LOUDER!" Hartman barked.

"SIR YES SIR!" The recruits shouted. Hartman allowed himself to crack a small smile when he heard voices cracking. _Damn, looks like there are babies in this platoon_.

"Now, my name is Drill Sergeant Hartman and I will be your drill sergeant for the next eight months, now and before any of you maggots ask, no I am not related in any way shape or form to the UNSC's Ace of Aces!" Hartman said as he walked up and down the barracks, looking into the faces of the recruits. _So who will it be this time?_ Hartman wondered at the same time. He got his answer soon enough.

"Who is that?" A voice said, feminine in tone. _Catch of the day_ Hartman grinned internally and she so happened to be next recruit.

"Where have you been living then? Under a rock?" Hartman barked as he walked over to the next recruit. He looked at the name tag on her uniform. _Clostermann, huh? Not anymore._

"Sir, what do you mean, sir?" The recruit asked timidly.

"I am asking the questions here, private!" Hartman barked, "Now what did you just say, private? Have you not been paying attention to the world around you? Or has been playing in the mud too distracting?"

"Sir?" The recruit replied confused. _This kid must really be dumb._

"Well let me educate you, Private Rock." Hartman barked, "Now in every war, there is going to be heroes, and this war is no different, and goddamn is this one hell of a hero. This pilot has shot down at least _six hundred_ Covenant planes from fighters to boarding craft, she's shot down at least one of each type,.."

"She?" The recruit asked. _Are you really brave or just stupid?_ Hartman nearly paused at this recruit's brazen courage or downright stupidity.

"Did I say you can talk, Private Rock?" Hartman asked. _You are so keeping that name._

"Sir, no, sir." Rock replied.

"Then keep your trap shut before I keep it shut." Hartman barked.

"Sir, yes, sir." Rock answered. Hartman glared at this recruit for a few seconds.

"Now as I was saying... She has shot down at least one of every kind of plane the Covenant has deployed to the battlefield that we know of and you want to know what's the best part? She's still flying and still kicking ass. Now you lot must be wondering what's her name. Well just wait a goddamn minute, I am getting there, her name is Erica Angela Hartmann, a commander in the Navy." Hartman barked.

 _Erica Angela Hartmann?_ Minna thought. _Where have I heard that name before? Damnit, can't remember._ While Minna couldn't remember why the name sounded familiar, someone else could but she too couldn't make the right connection.

 _Erica… Nah must be a different person, no way that could be her, she would be in training like us_ Shirley assumed.

"Now Commander Hartmann is a special kinda of character, normally when you are a commander in the Navy, you will be given the opportunity to command a ship and you would take it. But not Commander Hartmann, oh not her, she declined and wanted to keep on flying. Now you be thinking, "Oh it must have been a small warship". Well guess again ladies, Commander Hartmann _**declined**_ an offer to command the UNSC _Trafalgar_ which for those of you who don't know is a _Punic_ class Supercarrier and is one of the largest and most powerful warships in the entire UNSC Fleet." Hartman continued his explanation.

"Sir, how big are we talking, sir?" Rock asked.

"Boy, you sure love living on the edge, Private Rock, don't you?" Hartman said.

"Sir, no sir." Rock replied.

"Well, keep your mouth shut or I will shove a handful of chili pepper down your throat. Do I make myself clear?" Hartman threatened.

"Sir yes sir." Rock replied while Hartman glared down on her with sole intent of seeing if she would die from it.

"Now since someone KINDLY asked about the size of the _Trafalgar_ I am guessing you all are wondering the same thing. Well listen up ladies because I am only going to tell you once. The _Punic_ class supercarrier is 4050 meters long, 800 meters wide, and 550 meters tall, and to make it easier for your brains to understand the size of this beast, it can house either destroyers or frigates in its hangar bay." Hartman answered.

"*Low whistle*" The recruit next to Private Rock whistled. Hartman looked over to her and looked at her name tag. _I swear the Japanese and their names, now how the hell do you pronounce that? Mia… Maya… ah fuck it, I got a better name for you._

"Damn right, Private Twinkletoes." Hartman pointed at the Japanese recruit who just nodded.

"Now that's more like it, now why can't you be more like Twinkletoes, Rock?" Hartman left the question hanging. "Alright, everyone get into your PT gear, we are going for a little hike. And you can thank Private Rock for that. Meet you at the assembly area in 15 minutes" Hartman said before he turned around and left the barracks.

The next eight weeks, were brutal to say the least as the recruits were made to go through hell. It was even worse thanks to the stupid moments of Private Clostermann or as Hartman calls her Private Rock. Now however the most difficult phase was over, now for the other aspects of army training, this includes firearms training.

 **Firing Range**

"Goddamnit Bishop! You're a fucking artist with that MA5 on semi-automatic! But why the hell when we switch to Full-auto practice does your aim suddenly go to shit?!" Hartman yelled, with no small amount of incredulousness in his voice as the young private sent yet another round right through the head of a metal target some thirteen hundred meters down range with just the _iron sights_.

"Sir, it's probably because I am used to Bolt-action weapons and that I've never really fired any sort of firearm in full automatic before." The young private replied, she had a British accent that was for sure.

"Bolt actions? Haven't heard about those in years now," Hartman said, impressed by this fact, "What did you do before joining the army?"

"I helped my father at his antique gunshop sir." Bishop replied, "Sometimes he will let me shoot some the guns he works on, sir"

"Do you have a gun of your own?" Hartman asked.

"Yes sir, an ancient Lee Enfield rifle." Bishop replied, "I often shoot it at the range back home, sir but I have fired a Boys Anti-Tank Rifle before but I didn't like it, kicks like a mule."

"Well, hot damn, those are some ancient guns, Bishop. I am starting to like you Bishop." Hartman grinned slightly.

"Thank you sir." Bishop said.

"Well looks like we just found ourselves a new marksman, maggots." Hartman barked as he put his hand on Bishop's shoulder, "Private Bishop or Angel as I will like to call you from now on, will be the platoon's sharpshooter. So if you got anybody dead far away, you know to call. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir yes, sir" The other recruits replied.

"Now get back to the firing range, we still got more metal plates to kill." Hartman said. Just then a figure clad in the distinctive all black armor of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers walked onto the range, she wasn't wearing her helmet but it was clear judging by the way she was moving from empty stall to empty stall on the range that she was looking for something. Hartman smirked. "Range is safe!" He barked sharply and the chatter of MA5Bs on full auto and the distinct cracks of said weapons on single-shots died away to nothing.

"Take five recruits." Hartman said before standing up and reaching into his pocket and pulling out an antique cob pipe and then walked over to the ODST. "Well, well. If it's not one of the craziest ODSTs in the entire military. How are you doing Captain Soloman?" Hartman asked as he greeted the ODST, who promptly blanched at the use of a nickname she likely haven't heard in years.

"Not bad, Sergeant Hartman. Working with some new recruits?" The ODST, recently minted Captain Amirah Aisyah Sulaiman replied.

"Yes ma'am, I am. What brings you here to the range? I thought that the 101st had already gotten their range time today." Hartman asked calmly.

"No, I am not bringing Easy out to practice. I am just looking for something. But it doesn't look like it's here." She said with a sigh, "Blasted thing."

"You mean this thing?" Hartman asked with a smirk bringing the pipe into her line of sight.

"Yeah! That's it, where did you find it?" Amirah asked.

"Over by stall seven, where Private Twinkletoes is." Hartman said jerking a finger over to where Twinkletoes was drinking out of her canteen.

"Oh, damnit. That was my stall too when we were practicing with our new rifles. The MA6, bloody powerful thing that rifle. I swear this thing could probably tear a Grunt in half, the alien kind, that is. Still trying to get used to the damn thing." Amirah said, "So tell me, who fell for it this time?" she asked, a slight smirk on her face

"Private Rock, over there. She's either the bravest or stupidest recruit I've seen in years, my money's on the latter. But, she's good with an MA5, I mean she's not like Private Angel, who has to be one of the best shots I've ever seen with an MA5B. She's bound to become this platoon's Designated Marksman." Hartman said.

"So is Rock her name or your nickname for her?" Amirah asked but she already knew the answer.

"Come on, Captain, you know me better than that." Hartman grinned.

Amirah shook her head and smiled. "Still, I rather not take too much time out of your busy day and I got to get back to the ODST barracks, who knows what those numbnuts will get off too when I am not around." She said and Hartman had to restrain a laugh, mainly because it wouldn't look good laughing in front of the recruits now wouldn't it?

"Right, here you go Captain Soloman, and good day." Hartman said, handing the Captain the pipe and then with a nod the ODST walked away. But not before, Hartman noted that she put a little bit of Sweet William Tobacco into the pipe and light it.

"Alright maggots, I bet you're wondering who that was. Well, that was a Captain in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, now I am sure you're wondering who the hell the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are. Well give me a minute and I'll tell you. The ODSTs are UNSC Special Forces, some of the best of the best the UNSC has to offer. In order to be _eligible_ to become one, you first have to go through two years of service in another branch of Special Forces in the UNSC! But, it takes a certain kind of crazy to join up!"

"Sir, you called that one that walked in, the craziest ODST in the military. What did you mean by that?" Rock asked curiously. _Well, there just might be some brain cells inside of Rock's head._ Hartman thought.

"Well, she's the craziest ODST because she lead a mere fireteam on an infiltration mission that she thought up. Bottomline, they snuck behind enemy lines, found a Covenant landing zone and called in a fucking _orbital_ strike that totally destroyed the enemy landing zone. Then, during the chaos of their escape somehow managed to commandeer a pair of Covenant Locusts and used them to raise hell behind enemy lines _and_ get back to friendly lines. That little stunt got her promoted to Second Lieutenant from Staff Sergeant and _earned_ her the Red Legion of Honor." Hartman said sharply.

"Holy crap." Twinkletoes and Rock muttered in unison.

"Damn straight, anyway break's over! Get back to shooting those targets!" Hartman barked and very quickly afterward the crack and chatter of MA5Bs firing in single-shot and full-automatic begin to ring through the air again and quickly became a sustained roar.

The training continued, but eventually. They were all called to the armory one day. What they found surprised them, sure there was the usual racks of Grenades, Magnums, Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles, Carbines, Battle Rifles, Squad Automatic Weapons, Designated Marksmen Rifles, Shotguns, Jackhammer Launchers, Light Anti-Armor Weapons, Grenade Launchers, Remote Projectile Detonators, .308 caliber Light Machine Guns, Micro-rotary guns, 40mm Underslung Grenade launchers with the ability to fire 40mm Micro Rocket-Propelled Grenades or Smart Grenades, ARC-920 Asymmetric Recoilless Carbines, M6 Grindell Nonlinear Rifles, SRS-99 Sniper Rifles, Heavy Machine Guns, packs of plastique explosive, etc. Not to mention an absolute ass ton of ammunition for it all. All-in-all it was a collection of firepower that was probably enough to kick the absolute hell out of any dumb Innies that had decided to make a presence on Reach or the Covenant if they decided to invade.

But also standing in the armory today were suits of armor. Each one had a dusty tan colored body suit, armor plates painted in a dull dusty tan color that seemed to somehow produce a reflection from the harsh overhead lights, the helmets had a wide clear visor. While attached to the back of the armor was what seemed to be a hump of some sort.

"Standing in front of you, are M-2505/B Wolverine Combat Powered Exoskeletons." Hartman said calmly.

"What the hell does the B, stand for sir?" Rock asked, somewhat confused. _Well, seems like Rock has finally grown enough brain cells to think._ Hartman thought before answering.

"That's a good question Rock. Right, the main difference between the M-2505/A and M-2505/B Wolverine Combat Powered Exoskeleton on paper seem rather minor but are in-reality very big changes. The 'A' model used for it's Armored Outer Bodysuit Kevlar Diamond Weave with Carbon Nanotube reinforcement. The 'B' Variant does away with the Fabric bodysuit and replaces it with a Titanium Nanocomposite similar to what the Spartans and their Mjolnir Armor uses, it's extremely flexible and extremely durable and is all but impervious to stuff at or below 7.62x51mm caliber, unless it's mil-spec Armor-piercing. Other changes include a somewhat more powerful Micro-Fusion Reactor, and before you ask, I don't know how they make it or really how it works, a 2nd Generation Motion Tracker, and most importantly a refractive layer on both the armor plates themselves and the Armored Outer Bodysuit, meaning that it can take a couple of hits from plasma weapons before failing by dispersing the heat of those damned energy blasts however the armor plates themselves can only take five or six energy blasts depending on where they hit, the range, and of course luck before failing and they'll do just about jackshit against Particle Beam Weapons, the Outer Armored Bodysuit on the other hand can take at most four energy bolts before failing or if you're really unlucky it will fail when the first energy blast hits it, but besides the point it's a lot better than what we started the war with." Hartman explained in depth, going over the armor.

Twinkletoes whistled in awe. "Sure sounds impressive, sir." She said sounding awed by the armor. "Damn straight. Anyway, today marks a major change in your training recruits. Because now, we're going to be focusing on basically relearning everything that involves firearms and grenades because of the fact that the armor makes you stronger and faster. It's not uncommon to accidentally at first crush a few magazines or completely destroy the bolt when you rack it when you first start using the Wolverine and before you ask recruits, it happens to everyone and I do mean everyone." Hartman said.

"Sir? How the hell does the Wolverine increase your strength and speed?" Rock asked sounding unsure at that fact.

"Well, it uses Micro-servomotors and carbon nanotubes actuated by an electric current. In essence it acts like an external muscle, using this current model, depending on the wearer's natural strength to be able to flip a 900 pound ATV back onto one's wheels to being able flip a Warthog that's capsized, but the later is pretty rare. Hell, some people who display in an ability to spray a lot of rounds downrange and do it for long periods of time are often issued Micro-rotary guns." Hartman replied.

"Oh, sounds complicated, sir." Rock replied.

"That's because it is, Rock." Hartman replied.

After that day, the training continued. But at a different pace, mainly because well Hartman was right. The Wolverine did cause everyone at first to crush a few magazines, strip the charging handle off the bolt, to in one interesting incident somehow contrive to nearly yank the entire bolt assembly out the back of a rifle. That had resulted in Hartman giving Private Yeager the nickname of 'Supergirl' mainly because he had never seen that happen before in all his years as a Drill Sergeant.

But today was a different matter, they'd finally got past the period of time where everyone had foul-ups and we're now starting to focus on the aspect of training where everyone was really entering their own. Angel was proving to be incredibly lethal with her BR55HB SR, nailing headshots at ranges up to 1750 meters away with ease, although that was really pushing the absolute limit of the round. Although he had to admit, the somewhat adorable looking five foot tall or so in height Italian of the group, was absolutely _scary_ with her bullpup Combat Shotgun chambered in 8-gauge, it didn't help that she was an absolute _artist_ with the thing. He took a glance over at Twinkletoes, she had for some reason opted to use the MA5B-K Carbine variant of the famed MA5B a so…

 **BOOM**

The explosion that suddenly rent the air sent Hartman diving to the deck as his training from seemingly ages ago kicked in. The tell-tale whistle of shrapnel flying through the air at high-velocity sang through the air. He sprang to his feet in surprise and shock and swept his gaze over the open air firing line and quickly spotted the source, a large cloud of brownish-black smoke about five meters or so from the LAW and Jackhammer Launcher portion of the firing line.

"What the hell was that?!" Hartman yelled, but with the ringing in his and likely everyone else's ears he doubted that anyone heard him. He cleared his throat and then roared at the top of his voice " _ **WHAT WAS THAT?! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?**_ "

Sound was now beginning to filter through his ears again after that explosion. But it seemed that for the most part that everyone had dove to the deck on instinct when they heard the explosion. Although one particular shout did get his attention in an instant "I need a fucking medkit over here!" Even as Hartman sprinted to grab the firing range's medical kit, he noted several things about the voice. One, it carried the tone of a doctor or medic, two it sounded an awful lot like twinkletoes, and three there was a lot of force in that tone of voice, similar to a Drill Sergeant grilling some bone-headed recruit or a medic who was requesting for some goddamned dustoff in the middle of a firefight.

He grabbed the bright white medical kit with it's distinctive red medical cross on it and then sprinted to where the explosion had happened. "WHAT HAPPENED?" He shouted as he arrived and saw even as he handed to his surprise Private Twinkletoes, got a response. "Had a goddamned faulty rocket, thing flew about five meters before suddenly the whole thing just blew up, sent shrapnel everywhere, her armor took the brunt of it, but there's a piece of steel or titanium, can't tell that's about the size of my index finger lodged in her leg." Twinkletoes snarled as she was clearly trying to stop the bleeding from the wound.

Hartman opened the medical kit and quickly pulled out a canister of biofoam and an self-adhering battle dressing, "What's the skinny?" _Never interrupt someone when they know what they are doing and Twinkletoes does_. Hartman looked at the wounded private and saw that it was the only Russian recruit in the platoon. Hartman couldn't pronounce her actual name so he called her Snowflake. She was groaning in pain as she lay down on the floor. He glanced at Twinkletoes and realizing that while she had a plan, a scream of pain wouldn't be helpful, he quickly removed her helmet.

"Damnit, this is a two person job. Alright, on the count of three, you pull out the piece of metal and I'll apply the biofoam and the dressing." Twinkletoes said somewhat forcefully before she gave Snowflake her canteen, "Bite on this on Snowflake, can you do that for me?"

Snowflake nods and puts the canteen between her teeth, "Sir, you have the piece of metal?"

"Got it." Hartman said as he grabbed the piece of shrapnel.

"MMPH!" Snowflake screamed into the canteen and started to thrash around.

"Ah! Son of a bitch!" Hartman cursed when he cuts himself from the shrapnel piece.

"Hold her down!" Twinkletoes barked and the other recruits restrained the Russian recruit.

"Can you still pull it out, sir?" Twinkletoes asked.

"Yeah I can." Hartman said as he held the shrapnel piece once again.

"Alright, on the count of three, pull it out and I will smear the biofoam on." Twinkletoes said.

"Right." Hartman said.

"One, two, three!" Twinkletoes counted and Hartman yanked the shrapnel out. Twinkletoes was on Snowflake's leg almost the moment Hartman yanked his hand up.

"MMPH!" Snowflake screamed into Twinkletoes's canteen again as she felt the pain. Twinkletoes held down on the injured leg so keep it moving.

"Easy, Snowflake, easy Snowflake, hold strong, you'll be fine." Twinkletoes said with a calm and caring tone. She then with surprising care put the applicator for the Biofoam Canister up against the wound and squeezed the trigger which applied the self-sealing, space-filling coagulant and also an antibacterial, tissue-regenerative foam polymer and Snowflake shuddered as what was likely a feeling of burning ants crawling through the wound went through her leg. She then quickly applied the self-adhering battle dressing.

After that Twinkletoes sat back on her haunches and examined her work. "Not bad Twinkletoes. Who knew you were such a natural at being a medic?" Hartman said, his tone of voice carrying the aspect that he was impressed.

"Thanks, let's get her to medical." Twinkletoes said with a sigh.

"Right." Hartman said before helping Snowflake to her feet. She grunted several times in pain. "I got the feeling that your armor likely saved you from being riddled with shrapnel." Hartman continued and Snowflake nodded, he then turned to the assembled Platoon. "All right, from henceforth, Twinkletoes will now be the platoon's medic and thus has a new callsign of either 'Doc', 'Medic', or 'Medicus'. Now if you excuse me, I got to take Snowflake here to medical." Hartman said.

"Sir, yes sir!" The recruits chorused in response.

 **0950 Hours, May 1st, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard UNSC** _ **Hindenburg**_ **CFV-255**

 **Entering orbit of the Planet Fumirole**

The engines on the massive UNSC _Hindenburg_ CFV-255 rumbled as the 2.5 kilometer long, 800 meter wide _Phoenix_ class Assault Ship began to enter orbit of the planet Fumirole. She had exited Slipstream Space some ninety minutes ago and was now beginning to maneuver to enter orbit over Fumirole. For the moment at least, the Covenant had been driven off, but at a heavy cost, the space in orbit testified to that. Numerous UNSC ships lay broken, twisted, and blackened by a combination of Plasma Torpedoes, Energy Projectors, Pulse Lasers, and antimatter ordinance. The ships that remained in orbit all showed signs of damage, ranging from minor holes burned through their armor, to simply massive craters caused by the detonation of Antimatter missiles, to holes bored straight through ships in their entirety from energy projectors, to lastly damage where it seemed that the armor had simply been boiled away from plasma torpedo strikes.

"Holy crap" recently minted Sergeant Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke muttered in shock at the carnage that surrounded the _Hindenburg_. This was their first combat deployment and it appeared that they had missed the fighting in it's entirety.

With a rumble the _Hindenburg_ angled down in order to avoid the broken remains of what appeared to be a UNSC Destroyer, it's name _Staff of Charon_ just barely visible on it's severely blackened hull, the majority of the bottom of the warship was just gone, boiled away. "Worried Sergeant?" A voice said behind her. She turned and saw Yoshika, the young recently minted medic had changed a lot over the course of the past year. She was taller, more muscular, and carried an air of determination around her.

"Yes Corpsman, I am. I mean, have you seen the casualty reports for the friendly forces groundside. The 101st Shock Troops Division, 1st Infantry Division, 12th Infantry Division, 7th Armored Division, and 130th Armored Divisions suffered casualties at or in excess of 85%. While in orbit the Fleet suffered 95% losses. The Marines suffered losses that were absolutely crazy, the 15th MEU which was composed of the 23rd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Division, and 15th Marine Division suffered 97% casualties. It's making me wonder how are _we_ going to fair in our first encounter with the Covenant?" She said, looking at Fumirole, hard to believe that so many had died fighting for the planet that the _Hindenburg_ was now beginning to orbit.

Mainly because well, Battlegroup Gamma started with forty-five odd warships and somehow managed to beat back a Covenant Fleet that had only twenty-two ships which meant two-to-one odds and the UNSC Fleet usually only won when they outnumbered the Covenant three-to-one or better. But it had won, but they had suffered incredible losses, only three warships had managed to survive the fight relatively unscathed, with fifteen others adrift but salvageable and with numerous months in the shipyards to be repaired. However, twenty-seven UNSC Warships had been totally destroyed as well as fifteen United Rebel Front ships, with six others adrift but salvageable, and eight more still intact. The decisive intervention of the ships from the URF had been instrumental in driving off the Covenant Fleet.

It was rare case of the enemy of my enemy is a friend but it proved utterly decisive as it distracted the Covenant fleet just long enough for the UNSC ships to land critical hits on the Covenant ships but not without taking heavy losses but however it was a necessary sacrifice though painful one so to allow the reinforcement and supplies reach to the exhausted defenders of Fumirole.

"Well Sergeant," Yoshika said, "We will only truly know once we start fighting them. I mean, the simulations we went through during training is one thing, but fighting the real deal? That's completely different."

"I suppose you are right, Corpsman." Minna replied. Just then another soldier came, it was Corporal Mio Sakamoto, she too has changed from her days in boot camp. She like Yoshika and Minna had grown taller and more muscular as well.

"Ah Corporal, what's the matter?" Minna asked.

"Sergeant Wilcke, Lieutenant Heyliger wanted me to inform you that we will be coming in for landing very soon." Mio said.

"Well, it seems we will be on the ground soon enough." Minna said. Just then she felt a finger on her shoulder. She turned and saw something that would stay in her mind for as long as she lived. It was two destroyed UNSC destroyers, the _Fubuki_ and the _Benson_ slamming into each other, their gutted hulls locking together and beginning to tumble serenely through the vacuum, the stresses slowly began tearing the ships apart. _This is an uphill fight isn't it?_

 **A few hours later**

 **Town of New Bastogne**

Minna and her squad, along with the rest of her division, the 20th Infantry Division were sent to reinforce the positions held by the 101st Shock Troops Division or colloquially called the Screaming Eagles or the Dying Eagles, depending on pessimistic you are. Minna's company, Alpha Company was being assigned to hold the town of New Bastogne alongside of the few 101st Shock Troop Division Companies that were roughly intact, as in it was composed of roughly the remains of E Company and F Company.

"Sergeant!" Mio hollered over the engines of their transport, a D78-TC Pelican Dropship.

"What is it, Corporal?" Minna shouted back.

"Why is E Company of the 101st Shock Troops Division is not called Echo Company but called Easy Company?" Mio asked.

"I am not sure, Corporal, perhaps they wanted to make their company sound more unique." Minna suggested.

"Could be, still I am beyond stunned by the losses the fleet took in the battle. Makes me wonder, what will we do if the Covenant return?" Mio replied as the Pelican's engines roared.

That's when the pilot's voice came over the comms. _"Get ready troopers! Five minutes till dirt!"_ He boomed over the comms.

Throughout the fighting compartment, grins and small-talk disappeared. In their place was final equipment checks, the distinctive sound of magazines being slid into weapons, and the sound of bolts being raked. The pitch of the engines changed as the craft arrested it's forward motion and entered a hover. The aft ramp opened and revealed an absolutely barren landscape. Buildings lay shattered and vehicles were overturned, fires dotted the ground and the buildings here and there. It was carnage, to put it bluntly the town no longer existed.

"GO! GO! GO!" The loadmaster yelled and with those words, Minna leaped off the back ramp of the Dropship and onto the ground a full meter below. She landed with a thud and snapped her MA5B up to the ready position and swept it around and saw no contacts and slowly advanced to where the remains of the 101st Shock Troops Division was holed up. Which sadly wasn't much in terms of men, of course that's when they say that there were a few vehicles, mostly M12 Warthogs with the M41 LAAG although there was a pair of Gauss Hogs and most incredibly, it's armor scorched and blackened, a single Lion Tank.

"You're with the 20th?" An ODST asked, awkwardly holding his MA6 as Minna approached.

"Yes sir, I am. Where's the ranking CO?" Minna asked.

"Town Hall, only building that the Engineers say isn't in danger of collapsing on us. Plus it gives us the best view of the area. I am not gonna lie, after the pounding we went through to destroy a _CCS_ class Battlecruiser over Trapuas City. We were forced to give it up because the Covenant got their shit together and drove the UNSC out. But we got the last laugh, we completely destroyed Trapuas City with a 30-megaton Thermonuclear Missile." The ODST said.

"Alright, thanks." Minna said.

"We nuked one of our own cities?" Eila uttered. Just then Lieutenant Heyliger came over.

"Alright Sergeant Wickle, you and your squad are with me, we are going to find the CO." Heyliger said.

"Sir, the CO is the town hall." Minna replied.

"Well that makes our life easier." Heyliger said, "Let's get going then."

"Time to move, First Squad." Minna said, and soon First Squad and their Company CO headed to the town hall which the E Company of the 101st Shock Troops Division was located. First Squad walked into the CP and were surprised at how lax everything was in the foyer of the town hall. There were several ODST soldiers just sleeping while others were either eating or drinking. It was a full five seconds before anyone there noticed that they were there.

"Finally, fresh troops has arrived." An ODST soldier joked.

"Welcome to the meat grinder, hope you enjoy your stay." Another grinned.

"I am surprised the Fleet managed to beat-off the Covenant. Here I thought we would be forced to watch helplessly as a Covenant warship bombarded us from orbit with plasma." Another ODST said.

"It was a tough fight from the looks of it, the fleet is pretty much gone. Hell, I saw United Rebel Front warships in orbit, from the looks of it one of their battleships was in orbit." Minna said shaking her head.

"There's an Innie _Battleship_ in orbit?! Fucking Christ, were all fucked then." An ODST exclaimed.

"No we aren't ODST, that Innie Battleship is in quite a bad way. She was the flagship of a URF Fleet that helped bail out the Fleet's sorry ass. As it stands she did got slammed multiple times by pulse lasers and even took a pair of plasma torpedo intended for the _Dauntless_." Heyliger barked. "Plus while I'd love to stay and make small talk, I need to talk to your CO, where is she by the way?"

One of the ODSTs sighed. "2nd floor, not hard to find, just look for the one smoking a pipe."

"Thank you, ODST." Heyliger said, "With me, First Squad."

"Understood sir." Minna nodded as they made their way to the second floor of the building and it didn't take long to find the CO.

"Damn Captain, how are you still alive?" An ODST medic asked as she applied Biofoam. "Don't know Doc, something tells me that I got lucky with the shots from the fucking Meat Scorcher that hit me because the damn Yeti that fired that burst was a bad shot?" The ODST with the pipe replied. _Look at the scars she has on her body, how many years has she been through this?_ Minna thought.

"Captain, it's not only the damn spikes from the Meat Scorcher, but it's also burn wounds from three plasma bolts that hit you and the detonation of a plasma grenade. You're lucky, particularly considering how you like to lead from the front." The ODST medic shot back, obviously not very amused.

"So, I survived didn't I? OW!" The ODST Captain said before suddenly yelling and cursing in pain as the medic proceeded without anesthetic to yank a embedded spike from a Type-39 Rifle out. "Give me some warning next fucking time before you do that!" The ODST Captain snarled as the medic proceeded to apply Biofoam and then a battle-dressing to the wound.

"Sorry Captain, I will try to remember next time." The medic grinned as she finished up. "Shut-up! It wasn't funny." The Captain said, before seemingly blanching as the medic held up a pair of tweezers.

"Aw fuck." The captain swore and the medic grinned in response. "Now, if you would please hold still, I am trying to finish up with these wounds." The medic said.

"Damnit." The ODST captain said. "You are enjoying this aren't you?"

"Oh yes I am, ma'am." The medic grinned.

"Damn sadist." Amirah grumbled before she realized that Heyliger was there with his First Squad. "So who are you lot?" She asked before she hissed in pain, "Seriously?"

"Just doing my work, ma'am." The medic said. Amirah just sighed as she looked back to Heyliger.

"Now, who are you?" Amirah asked.

"20th Infantry Division _Friuli_ , 3rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Battalion, Beta Company, 3rd Platoon, 1st Squad reporting, ma'am." Heyliger said as he was about to raise his arm.

"Don't salute," Amirah said, "Anyway I am Captain Amirah Aisyah Sulaiman of the 101st Shock Troop Division, 501st ODST Regiment, 1st Battalion, Easy Company. Glad to have you here."

"Glad to be of service, ma'am." Heyliger said. However Amirah seemed more intrigued by his sergeant and his unit..

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Heyliger, I have a question, this is your command squad?" Amirah asked.

"No but they are my best squad." Heyliger answered. _Strange? Why did she ask that?_ "Is something the matter, Captain?"

"Oh nothing but I seem to recall seeing these lot before." Amirah said as she stood but winced in pain from her wounds, "Sergeant."

"Yes ma'am?" Minna asked in surprise.

"What is your name?" Amirah asked out of the blue.

"Sergeant Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, ma'am." Minna said. Amirah suddenly clutched her head in pain as she fell back on her seat which miraculously didn't break from her and her armour's weight.

"Captain?!" The medic yelped as she jumped to Amirah's side, "What did you do?!"

"I don't know?!" Minna replied in shock, "All I did was say my name."

Amirah grunted. "I am fine, dammit it's just the pain from that sticky smacking me in the helmet that forced me to ditch it. Fucking adrenaline is starting to wear off, alright? I am fine." She said, grunting as she sat down.

"Are you sure?" The medic asked, "How many fingers do you see?"

"I see three fingers and you are still sadistic asshole." Amirah answered.

"Yep, you are still okay." The medic said.

"So Minna, looks like we meet again." Amirah smiled before she frowned, "That means they got all of us."

"Excuse me, Captain?" Heyliger asked as he didn't seem to understand what was going on.

"Lieutenant, is it possible for me to borrow your squad for a few minutes?" Amirah asked, "I have something private to discuss."

"Um okay?" Heyliger said as he left the room.

"Same with you, Doc." Amirah said.

"Fine." The medic left the room as well.

"What's going on, Captain?" Minna asked, sounding somewhat worried.

"You can drop the act, Minna. I know very well that you know what I am talking about." Amirah said, "In fact all of you do."

"What do you mean, ma'am?" Yoshika asked, confused.

"You guys still can't remember?" Amirah frowned, "Hm, maybe this will help, my name is Captain Amirah Aisyah Sulaiman or sometimes known as the Lady of Knives."

It all suddenly came rushing forth, a torrent of memories, that had been seemingly suppressed suddenly sprang to the forefront. "My god… I remember now. So this where you ended up?" Mio asked.

"Yep." Amirah nodded.

"For how long?" Mio asked.

"About twenty-four years now." Amirah replied, shaking her head.

"Twenty-four years?!" Yoshika exclaimed stunned. Amirah nodded and when she spoke again her voice became sour sounding. "Twenty-four fucking years of nothing but almost constant defeat. Loss after loss, fighting the Covenant, morale is in the gutter; hell by 2544 or so, the URF stopped fighting the UNSC and we began to team-up in battles. We can fight them on even ground planetside, but we can't fight them on nowhere near an even footing in space, in order to win a space fight the fleet has to outnumber the Covenant by three-to-one just so they can attain a victory and that's _always_ with 75% losses in the fleet." The ODST Captain said bitterly.

"Dam-" Lynne began to say when suddenly a mechanical grinding and booming began to ring through the air. An ominous feeling blanketed the area and Amirah immediately paled with nearly all color left her face. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"We've got incoming! Lock-and-load, because from the sounds of it we've got multiple Covenant Walkers inbound!"

Just then an ODST soldier burst into the room with panic in his eyes. "Ma'am! We got a Scarab and a bunch of Locusts coming!"

"Fuck, we're in trouble! We need orbital support!" Amirah snarled as she slammed her helmet on before grabbing her MA6. "You lot come with me, we need as many guns as possible."

Amirah raced out before noticing the rest hadn't moved. They were seemingly petrified with fear, which Amirah wasn't afraid to admit. The first time she faced a Scarab in War Games it had been terrifying, seeing it, another thing that probably didn't help was that depending on the model it was either 38.7 meters tall _or_ 49.6 meters tall. The fact that it had an incredibly powerful Focus Cannon that could tear through just about anything didn't help matters. The Heavy Plasma Cannon and Plasma MGs that it had for taking down aircraft and suppressing infantry didn't help matters either. So Amirah could understand their fear however she didn't have the time or patience for them to collect themselves. Of course facing a Scarab in War Games was one thing but facing the real deal? That was another altogether.

"Move your dumb asses or I will kick your asses into motion!" Amirah roared at her comrades.

"But that's a giant walker out there! We need to fall back" Minna blurted out in fear.

"Oh fuck you! Just think of it as a fucking neuroi but with tougher armour." Amirah growled.

"But-" Minna tried to argue.

"Listen here! Who's in command here? You or me, **SERGEANT**? I lost too many good soldiers to give up this position. Now you get your squad on to the front or I swear to god, I will make your life a living hell." Amirah snarled. Yoshika could have sworn she saw fangs in Amirah's mouth.

The grinding and booming was beginning to get louder and louder. Numerous thumps resounded as the light 81mm Mortars opened fire, sending mortar bombs flying down range.

"AH! I got no time for cowards like you! I have a company to lead" Amirah growled as she ran out of the room.

 **Outside the CP**

Outside, it was chaos, plain and simple. The thunderous grinding and booming was becoming nearly deafening. "SCARAB!" Someone shouted as the massive hulking war machine lumbered into view, explosions from the 81mm mortar bombs exploding across its crew deck and armor. But it showed no sign of slowing down, with a sound that chilled everyone to the bone, a deep _SHOOP DA WHOOP_ a lethal, sickly green beam of plasma lashed out, the beam tore into the front of a M808C Scorpion Main Battle Tank and in an awesome display of firepower slagged through the front of vehicle in less than half a second and then blew the Scorpion apart, the turret flying thirty meters clean into the air with a thundering roar of an explosion as all of the ammunition and fuel in the vehicle ignited explosively.

With deep crashes multiple 105mm High-velocity smoothbore guns that the Scorpion mounted discharged. AP Spikes blitzed toward the lumbering Covenant Walker and buried themselves into the vehicle with absolutely no effect against the thing. With deeper sounding booms, the few Grizzlies that the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_ had streaked forth and the distinctive explosions from 120mm HEAT rounds splashed across the Scarab's armor. The Scarab fired again and the beam of energy tore right through the ODST line and over a dozen status lights winked out on Amirah's display. _Shit that's several squads wiped out. Where the fuck is that support? I don't have Orussia's manpower reserves for this shit._

With an enormous sonic boom and a blazing blue streak reaching out like the finger of God and an four pound AP spike from the Lion tank slammed into the Scarab and a hole appeared in the vehicle. The enormous walker visibly staggered under the force of the blow as the spike slammed into the thing at a speed of 5.5 kilometers per second. In retaliation of the Scarab fired again and the Lion Tank was simply annihilated as the shot from the Focus Cannon tore through the vehicle with ease.

"Where's that Orbital Support? We need it now!" Amirah shouted as several 75mm Spear Rockets splashed uselessly across the heavily armored flanks of the massive Covenant war machine. Several more beams of energy speared forth and tore into the UNSC lines, Amirah swore as no less than _six_ Locusts advanced, several Spear rockets crashed into one of the alien machines and the thing was revealed to be totally intact behind a shimmering blue energy shield. _Aw fuck, the Locusts are the shielded variety. Well that's just dandy!_

"Focus fire on those Locusts! Take them down!" Amirah shouted as multiple rockets landed forward and crashed into one of the Locusts, its shields flared brilliantly as the rockets, mere Spears instead of the more powerful Jackhammers unleashed their warheads against the thing's shields.

The Grizzlies opened fire and the shells crashed against the shields which after taking just two shells failed which allowed for the second pair of 120mm HEAT rounds to opened the thing up like a sardine can and snapped one of the legs off. The vehicle crashed to the ground and promptly brewed up, purplish-blue flames quickly engulfed the vehicle.

Beams of plasma flew forward from the Scarabs and the Locusts and tore into the UNSC lines and more status lights winked out and several more tanks went up in violent explosions. Finally a voice that Amirah was incredibly glad to hear came over the comms. _"This is UNSC_ Hindenburg _! We've received your request for orbital support! Requesting coordinates!"_

 _Thank god._ Amirah thought. "Thank the lord, _Hindenburg_ , this is Easy Red! Our targets are a singular Scarab and five" two large explosions ripped through the air. "Scratch that three Locusts! Coordinates are map grid Baker 554 211! Bring in the heat!"

" _This is_ Hindenburg _to Easy Red, coordinates locked down, shells on the way."_

They came down like the finger god, fourteen rounds from seven of the _Hindenburg_ 's 15cm dual-barreled deck guns streaked down, each round weighing three hundred pounds, the shots aglow from the friction of going through the atmosphere slammed into the ground with the force of 20,000 pounds of High-Explosive. The street simply shattered under the hammering force the impacts and the Walker's simply appeared to shattered as the rounds impacted. With a brilliant blue-white flash the Scarab exploded as the reactor overloaded and detonated and everything with ten meters of the thing vaporized. The ground shook and rattled as if the area had been struck by an earthquake and as the dust and smoke began to clear, it became obvious that the strike had been successful. The Scarab was simply shattered and the Locusts were pulverised.

"This is Easy Red to _Hindenburg_ , good hits, I see the enemy was hit hard. Nice shooting." Amirah radioed.

" _Affirmative; we're pulling you out. The situation has just gone shit in orbit, ten Covenant Heavy Cruisers, an Assault Carrier, five Battlecruisers, and twelve Destroyers have dropped out of slipspace, ETA till they are within weapons range is two hours and forty minutes. We intend to be gone by then."_ The comms officer on the _Hindenburg_ radioed.

"Roger that, I'll get what's left of the 101st ready for extraction." Amirah said before keying the all-hands freq for what was left of the 101st. "Get ready for extraction, 101st. We're pulling out, more Covenant Warships have exited slipspace and are moving in system." She said, before sighing.

" _But I thought we won, ma'am."_ An ODST replied, sounding confused.

"Yeah, well the Covenant decided to have the last the laugh. According to the _Hindenburg_ , multiple Battlecruisers, Heavy Cruisers, and Destroyers led by an Assault Carrier have dropped out of Slipspace. Get ready for dustoff people." Amirah said before trudging back inside the CP, mainly to apologize to Minna.

When she found Minna, she wasn't all that surprised to see her looking down. "Look, I am sorry for going off on you like that. It's just that, we got here on April 19th and have thus spent several days through hell. Most of the division is gone and that last Covenant attack, well we had to call in orbital support otherwise the Covenant would have completely wiped us out. But, I am not surprised you locked-up when you heard we had a Scarab inbound. Hell, I locked-up the first time I ever encountered one, don't know how I came out of it alive. Listen, the Covenant have returned in orbit and thus we're pulling out." Amirah said.

"What? But, when we were on the _Hindenburg_ in orbit. It was clear that the fleet had driven off the Covenant." Minna replied stunned.

"Ha, well someone forgot to give the Covenant the memo but then again, they'll likely just kill the messenger and then ignore the memo. Mainly because we have a fairly powerful Covenant fleet heading our way. The _Hindenburg_ is going to be sending down dropships to pick us up. They'll probably be here within thirty minutes." Amirah said with a short bitter laugh. "But listen, I won't bring up the fact that you locked up, if you don't get scared fighting a Scarab then there's something wrong with you. Besides, their was the massive bombshell that I dropped on you, anyone would've lost their cool, I should've waited until we had been pulled out."

"Thanks." Minna mumbled.

"Captain" a voice said behind them. Amirah turned and saw Perrine. "What is it private?"

"Got eyes on several Pods that are coming down, they're likely our ride." She said meekly.

 **Two and half hours later**

The _Hindenburg_ 's engines rumbled as the massive _Phoenix_ class Assault Ship moved in tandem with two of her sisters the UNSC _Buccaneer_ and the UNSC _Santa Maria_. Nearby the form of an _Orion_ class Assault Carriers the _Tawara_ and her heavily damaged sister the _Saipan_ maneuvered to break orbit from Fumirole as did the remaining UNSC and United Rebel Front Warships from small Corvettes to the absolutely massive UNSC _Atlantis_ HBB-1 all maneuvered to break orbit and get the hell out of dodge.

As Fumirole receded from view, over a dozen twinkling stars moved closer toward the planet; the ships of the Covenant Reinforcement fleet obviously, they entered close orbit and fired their plasma lines.

It was beginning…the Covenant was starting to glass the planet of Fumirole.

On the trip back to the _Hindenburg_ , Amirah had explained what glassing was. It was only seen when the Covenant had captured a human world, they would have their ships move in criss-crossing orbits firing their plasma lines until the entire surface of the planet was nothing but glass, ash, and cinder. Within a week, if that the atmosphere would boil away and would leave the planet as a dead world. But she also said that the thing with the atmosphere boiling away didn't happen with every planet, Harvest was an example, however the air was hardly breathable, for it was choked with ash, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, dust, and smoke.

With an imperceptible jolt; the _Hindenburg_ shot into Slipstream Space -also known as Slipspace- and the Fumirole, it's surface being set afire by the Covenant disappeared, replaced by a thick inky blackness that had no light at all. Such was the dimension known as Slipspace. UNSC Ships with their Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Drives could travel relatively accurately, with UNSC Fleets being able to exit Slipspace in a formation with seven kilometers between ships and they could travel at roughly twenty light years per day; however the Covenant were able to travel through slipstream space at a velocity of at least nine hundred light years per day and could exit the slipstream in formation not even a kilometer apart, more like exit Slipspace with pinpoint accuracy and do it with a mere _five hundred meters_ between ships.

The _Hindenburg_ 's destination was Reach, just two and half weeks travel from Fumirole via UNSC Slipspace Drives. All told, the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_ hadn't suffered that bad in terms of losses, only eighteen percent or so. Of course, nobody knew that after they arrived at Reach, within two months they were going to be fighting for their lives.

 **AN: And that's the chapter folks, we're going to be wrapping up this section of the story rather soon. Anyway, yeah enormous bombshells dropped in this chapter, but anyway coming up we will get properly introduced to Noble Team, Amirah will share experiences and offer advice, and a few other things. Anything you wish to add General?**

 **General: Well, looks like the reunion didn't end well and damn, that's another loss for UNSC. Well let's see what happens in the next chapter. Goodbye for now.**

 **Thor: Fortunately for the UNSC, they have a somewhat big win coming up, the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, which provides a huge morale boost but as you can imagine this is then followed by the destruction of Reach. Anyway, take care folks and we'll catch you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Howdy folks, Thor and the General here for another chapter of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach. So last chapter it seemed that everyone got their memories back and the result wasn't the most reasonable and that the witches of the 501st went through pure hell for training. Also, another thing of note, VF-300, The White Tigers is descended in terms of lineage from INAS-300 of Indian Navy while well I am fairly sure you can guess the lineage for VF-103. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Well nothing really, just that now we got ship on ship combat and see how the Black Devil of Space got her name. So, let's see how this will turn out.**

 **2235 Hours May 12th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard the UNSC** _ **Yuri Gagarin**_

 **In slipstream space en route to Reach**

Commander Erica Angela Hartmann, overall CO for VF-103, The Jolly Rogers approached her plane. She was supposed to be in Cryosleep but had managed to convince the CO of the _Yuri Gagarin_ , a 2,325 meter long _Atlas_ class Carrier, for her to remain out of Cryosleep so that she could help the aircraft techs in doing repairs to the various Multiroles, Interceptors, and Bombers that the powerful warship had.

She walked out of a lift and onto the primary starboard side hanger deck. Within easy reach of the various maintenance locations was a long line of launch tubes. The deck itself had two individual decks and a set of launch tubes for each hangar deck, the layout was repeated on the portside as well for simple symmetry reasons. She strode across the hanger, heading for a particular area and quickly came to what she was here for, her own personal fighter a F-203 Rapier Interceptor.

This particular Rapier, along with the others in The Jolly Rogers had some distinct differences when compared to the other fighters. For one they had a dark silver paint job on the body rather than the midnight black that other Rapier Interceptors onboard the _Yuri Gagarin_ had, another crowning feature of the fighter was located just aft of the cockpit that swung down toward the belly, a black stripe, outlined in metallic gold with three metallic gold stars in it. Also painted on the nose was a black skull and crossbones. It was for all intents and purposes The Jolly Rogers high-visibility paint scheme done as closely as realistically feasible, which apart from adding a tail fin so they could paint it midnight black with a white skull and crossbones to complete the affair, looked amazing on the Rapier more so than it did on the C710 Longsword Interceptor.

But this Rapier was her's, she glanced lovingly at the personal emblem that had been painted on the interceptor on the nose it was her calling card if you will, a pair of black tulips. While underneath the cockpit itself was more than a respectable number of kill markings, but it didn't reflect just how many bandits she had shot down over the course of the Human-Covenant War. She'd shot down so many enemy craft from Space Banshees to Boarding Craft that while she could put individual kill markers for each one, there would simply be too many kill markers, so she had borrowed a page from something she'd read. Thus instead of individual kill markers, each kill marker represented an entire _squadron_ worth of enemy craft, this was because she'd shot down around six hundred ninety or so enemy craft due to her kill count from the latest campaign, it was all but guaranteed that next campaign she was going to hit the _seven hundred_ mark or exceed it.

Erica reflected on better times, almost everyone from her class was either KIA or had retired or had been forced to retire due to injuries. There was only two other members left from her class that was still in service: Ice Queen and Cougar.

"How are you doing Bubi?" A voice said behind her. Erica turned and saw Gertrude walking toward.

"Hey, Ice Queen." Erica replied and had to restrain herself from laughing when she saw Gertrude blanch before shaking her head. "We've been fighting in this war for nineteen years and you still insist on using my callsign?" Gertrude replied sounding slightly indignant.

"Hey, you use my callsign whenever we interact, so I am just doing the same to you. But I thought you were going to be in Cryosleep, I have to ask why you're not in Cryo?" Erica said, first sounding cheeky but her tone then turned to confusion.

"Same thing you wanted to do. Personally do maintenance on my fighter. Still, remember this is the anniversary of the Battle of Skopje. You know that I am worry about you so I have to ask; how are you feeling?" Gertrude asked and Erica's face fell.

"Goddamn Skopje to hell. You're first command was all but wiped out there and I had very close encounter with death." Erica said with a scowl and repressing a shudder.

Skopje had been a major colony world with a significant orbital shipyard, a large industrial base, and a population of 1.5 billion people. The Covenant had attacked the colony in May of 2547 and it fell to the Covenant in October of the same year, but not before combined UNSC/URF forces had managed to get the majority of the orbital facilities to either Sol or Reach, with the same deal happening to the industrial factories, plus they managed to save some sixty million civilians from being slaughtered by the Covenant. It had come at the cost of some ninety UNSC Warships and fifty URF Warships being lost during the Campaign, including the _Vikrant_ , _Atlas_ , _All Under Heaven_ , _Valiant_ , _Marathon_ , _Turbine_ , _Tirpitz_ , _Bismarck_ , _Apollo_ , the list went on and that was just UNSC Warships, lost URF Warships included the _Kelvin_ , _Hyperion_ , _Roanoke_ , _Imperator Nikola_ , _Aoba_ , _Into the Jungle_ , _Paradise City_ , the list went on.

But the combined UNSC/URF forces had made the Covenant pay for Skopje in blood, destroying some one hundred seventy Covenant Warships including a single Covenant _CSO_ class Megacarrier and dirtside they inflicted losses on the Covenant that would've made any ground commander cringe in shock, killing at least seven hundred thousand Covenant on the ground. So it was safe to say, that the Covenant probably wished to avoid bloodbaths like that again, but then again so did the UNSC; the civilian casualties had been over a billion and the military casualties for the Navy had been around three-quarters of a million people and the Marines and Army had suffered losses in excess of a million people.

Erica had nearly been killed, her fighter had been hit pretty bad and as she had come in for landing on the _Yuri Gagarin_ , one of the main thrusters had suddenly quit just before touchdown, the sudden change of thrust had resulted in one hell of a fiery crash that had resulted in her being hospitalized for four months recovering. Of course, the bastard responsible had been a Covenant Ace known only as the Red Bastard. He was an Elite that much was known, but he and Erica had clashed at least a dozen times between 2537 when he first appeared and the last time they clashed in 2549. Both pilots were nearly matched in terms of skill and the only thing that separated how good they were was the fighters that they flew originally the C710 Longsword Interceptor and the Type-31 Exoatmospheric Fighter.

But now? Well, while the F-203 didn't posses energy shields, it was better armed, was faster, more maneuverable, and more agile than the C710 Longsword Interceptor. Chances were, that if they did tangle again it would be one hell of a fight.

"You know I don't like talking about Skopje. I was nearly killed there in June. To this day I have no idea how I survived that fiery crash and said crash killed my RIO." Erica said, shaking her head.

"I know, trust me I know. It's just damnit, Skopje nearly turned into Draco III. Where the fucking Covenant upon conquering the planet rounded up all the survivors and then had them massacred by Grunts and Jackals. As it stands ninety-five percent of the population of Skopje was killed." Gertrude said, her voice turning bitter.

"Don't remind me of Draco III, fucking Covenant need to burn in hell for that. Still have to ask, how many did you bag this time around?" Erica asked curiously.

"Roughly thirty bandits this time around. Wait, how many did you get?" Gertrude replied.

"Fifty-six!" Erica chirped, "Which means Cougar owes me another five hundred credits."

"Ugh, how the hell do you do that?" Gertrude groaned in annoyance.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Erica said calmly.

"Sure, what is it?" Gertrude asked, not sure what her ever playful friend was getting at.

"The reason why I am constantly doing so well is that unless I am firing missiles, I wait until the enemy has virtually filled my windscreen and then I pull the trigger and watch the fireworks." Erica replied with a smile.

"So that's how you do it. Still remember the first time you dueled with a Covenant Gunboat?" Gertrude asked and Erica grimaced. "How could I forget?" Erica replied her face becoming somewhat sour.

 _Flashback_

 _1345 Hours, April 2nd 2537_

 _Leonis Minoris System_

The _Seraph_ fighter exploded as numerous 50mm SAPHE rounds tore it's space frame apart and breached its reactor, causing the thing to go up in a brief purplish-blue flash. "Got one!" Erica cheered.

" _Jesus Christ! Wait for me Bubi!"_ Erica's veteran wingman, callsign 'Huntsman' barked as he pushed his C710 Longsword to the limit in an attempt to try and catch-up with Erica as she pushed her Longsword along the knife edge of it's safety envelope. She looped around and descended down upon a formation of ten Space Banshees.

 _Oh you poor bastards._ Erica thought as she gained lock on four of the Space Banshees. The poor bastards flying that thing didn't have any energy shields and they didn't have the Covenant equivalent to the Radar/Lidar Warning Receiver that her Longsword was equipped with. The poor things were essentially cannon fodder of the Covenant Aerospace Fighter forces, and the pilots who flew those things were also not the best dogfighters in the world. "Bubi, Fox Three!" She called out and four AIM-435 Enhanced Space Sparrows detached from their internal hardpoints, ignited their engines and streaked away, a mere two minutes later four explosions flashed silently through the vacuum as the missiles impacted and utterly obliterated their targets.

The surviving Space Banshees instantly scattered, only for thirty seconds later to have the wolves descend on them. Both Bubi and Huntsman descended onto their foes. Erica swung onto to the tail of a Space Banshee and effortlessly stayed with the frantically maneuvering Space Fighter, she brought her crosshairs onto the target and fired for less than half a second. The short burst of 50mm rounds struck the enemy fighter and just shredded it. "Hell yeah!" Erica cheered as she snap rolled her fighter around, saw a chance for a deflection shot, pulled the trigger again and the enemy fighter was ripped apart.

"Huntsman how are you doing?" Erica asked.

" _Got mine, you got yours?"_ Huntsman replied.

"Yep, hey what's that?" Erica inquired as a salvo of yellow streaks reached out from the UNSC ships, two hundred ton MAC rounds streaked forth and smashed into the Covenant ships with the force of two thousand Megatons of TNT, smaller sized yellow streaks arched forth from the railgun and coilgun secondaries blitzed forward with 20.3 cm shells and 15 cm shells that weighed eight hundred and three hundred pounds respectively impacted unleashing the kinetic energy equal to 170 megatons and 30 megatons respectively, Archer missiles lanced forward, silent explosions dotted space as the Covenant fleet engaged their point defenses, but some missiles got through and unleashed their powerful 5-megaton shape charge Fusion Warheads. Then came the Covenant return fire, lethal blue beams tinged silver-white streaked forth as Energy Projectors discharged, lethal red bolts of fire in the form of Plasma Torpedoes knifed through the blackness of space like angry dogs from hell, purple pulses of fire from particle cannons reached out, and blue stabs of laser fire knifed through space, plus blue-white streaks from Covenant Antimatter missiles rocketed forward.

Numerous silent explosions dotted through space as several Covenant Cruisers and _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyers were destroyed and in return three UNSC Warships, including the _Vindication_ class Battleship _Marat_ went up in brilliant fireballs as ordinance impacted with deadly effect.

But that's not what captured Erica's attention. Instead it was a vaguely beetle shaped craft that was lumbering forward. The craft was rather large, being roughly one hundred fifteen meters in length. For armament, Erica was able to pick out what appeared to be on its starboard side as her fighter looped around, two mini-plasma torpedo turrets, multiple pulse laser emplacements, and what appeared to be several particle cannon turrets, but she wasn't entirely sure.

"Hey Huntsman, you see that?" Erica inquired as she ever so calmly shot down a _Seraph_ with a pair of Evolved Space Phoenix's, the first one completely stripping the shields from the craft and the second utterly annihilating the craft. "Also, nearly evac winchester on missiles, here. Just two Space Sparrows and two Space Phoenix's left. Still got plenty of cannon ammo though." She said.

" _Affirmative, I only got four Space Sparrows and two Space Phoenix's left here. Still, I am about as clueless as you are as to what that thing is. Wait, you can't possibly be thinking what I think you're thinking."_ Huntsman said worryingly as Erica began a wide looping descending turn toward the large Covenant… _thing_.

"Oh, I am exactly thinking what you think I am thinking. Besides it's a new Covenant ship, we got to figure out it's capabilities somehow. Thus, were just going to test the waters here and then pull-out if that thing packs too much heat and have one of the frigates MAC it." Erica said calmly as she increased thrust. "Get ready to peg the sonofabitch Claymore." She told her RIO. "Right!" Her RIO replied.

" _You know you're crazy right Bubi? I swear if this gets me and my RIO killed considered your ass haunted."_ Huntsman grunted in reply.

"Yeah, I know I am crazy. Besides, I have a fairly good idea for getting an idea of this thing's capabilities. Before we engage we're going to do a simply flyby, coming in from it's portside. I'll fly under its ventral surface and you fly over its dorsal surface, that's probably the best way to figure out what sort of firepower this thing is packing." Erica said calmly.

" _Right!"_ Huntsman replied.

The Longswords descended to the mark level that the unknown Covenant ship was at. They then approached the thing on a heading perpendicular to it's own heading. The throttles were opened and the two Longswords sprinted forward at high speeds, while the ECM was engaged. The unknown Covenant ship reacted almost instantly, particle beams suddenly lashed out and two red dots first coalesced along the thing's flank and then grew in intensity for three seconds before discharging. "HOLY HELL! Evading!" Erica cried in shock as multiple purple stabs of fire lashed out from the Covenant ship, both Longswords instantly went defensive, launching flares and chaff as the lethal particle blasts reached out toward them as did what appeared to be two 'mini' Plasma Torpedoes.

The plasma bolts somehow missed, the sudden maneuvers, high speed, and the fact that the C710 was relatively small all probably helped with that fact. _"Whoa!"_ Huntsman cried as the Plasma torpedo meant for his fighter missed by only a couple dozen meters, in astronomical terms it was as if it was a miss from a bullet that parted the hair on one's scalp.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Erica shouted as she was forced to basically do a Kubit Turn in order to evade the Plasma torpedo meant for her and even then the bolt of red energy passed with a mere _meter_ to spare; to put it in astronomical terms it was literally a graze from a bullet.

" _Alright! Let's see how you like this you Covenant bastard! Fox Three! Fox Three!"_ Huntsman roared as the last two Space Phoenix's his fighter had streaked away.

The Evolved Space Phoenix was one of the most lethal weapons in all of the UNSC Aerospace Fighter Arsenal. It's overall appearance was similar to its ancient namesake the AIM-54 Phoenix. These missiles however were way deadlier and more accurate with Radar and Lidar active homing and a warhead that equaled to roughly two hundred ninety-four kilograms of TNT with an explosive filler that weighed in at only fifty four kilograms. Plus it was _fast_ , capable of actually blue-shifting with its velocity and once it got within six thousand kilometers of it's target it was nearly impossible to dodge and with a range of fifty-five thousand kilometers it had an incredible reach. This missile's purpose during it's inception had been to provide incredible stand-off range against enemy strike craft and to intercept enemy missiles to make it easier for the point defenses on UNSC ships to defend themselves. Now, it still provided an incredible stand-off capability against Covenant _Seraphs_ and was the only missile that could completely tear down the shields of the thing usually resulting in a blown shield generator and in some cases completely one-shotting the thing. Of course it would rip apart a Spirit Dropship and would ruin the day of a Tick Boarding Craft relatively easily.

Against this unknown Covenant ship, the results were rather surprising. First, both missiles managed to streak through the incredible amount of point-defense fire with ease and crashed hard into the enemy's shield. The distinctive silver-gold Hexagonal Energy Shields of Covenant Warships appeared over the craft. But by the second missile it was visibly cracking.

"Target locked!" Claymore announced. "Gotcha ya you son-of-a-bitch! Fox Three! Fox Three!" Erica called out and her two Space Phoenix's detached from their internal hardpoint, cleared the weapon's bay, and engaged their engines and boosted forward. Suddenly a purple particle beam round bisected one of the Phoenix's a mere five kilometers in front of her fighter and promptly exploded. "OH SHIT!" Erica screamed as her fighter flew right through the resulting fireball and debris cloud and the display board lit up like a New Year's Ball at New York City at Midnight on January 1st. _"You hit Bubi?!"_ Huntsman asked frantically.

"No, fucking particle beam round nailed one of my Phoenix's and I flew right through the resulting fireball and debris field. Pulling out!" Erica replied as she pitched her fighter up and to her immense relief the Longsword reacted albeit sluggishly. She glanced at the structural integrity of her fighter and grimaced, it was down to only thirty percent and then her fighter shuddered once, twice, three times and several more alarms started wailing and the structural integrity dropped to a mere ten percent. The Longsword's space frame was on the verge of catastrophic failure. _"Bubi, you're hit! Your hit!"_ Huntsman called out unnecessarily.

"Gee thanks, I sort of figured that judging by how my fighter jerked angrily. Probably glancing blows, otherwise I would be very much dead right now." Erica snarked in response. She swung her fighter around, just in time to watch her Space Phoenix slam into the enemy craft and it's energy shields flared brilliantly before flickering out. "We've breached it's shields!" Erica shouted in glee, winging her fighter over and descending on the craft from above. That's when this craft revealed a new surprise, three _dual_ particle beam cannon turret mounts. "Oh, _du musst mich verarschen!_ " Erica hissed in alarm as six particle beams lashed out toward her, she weaved left and right dodging the lethal blasts of purple energy. "Claymore!" Erica cried as a particle beam shot missed her fighter by mere meters. "He's locked in!" Claymore replied frantically. "Right, Fox Three! Fox Three!" Erica called out and her last two missiles, Enhanced Space Sparrow missiles released from their racks and shot forward, easily weaving through the fire and both hit.

The first splashed uselessly across the ship's barely reconstituted shields which failed instantly and the second missile punched through it's relatively thin hull and detonated inside and the enemy craft visibly shuddered from the hit and it's dorsal particle beam turrets went silent.

"Huntsman! Hit it! Hit it with your remaining missiles!" Erica called out as she pulled up and away from the obviously damaged unidentified Covenant warship. _"Right! By the way, thanks for silencing that thing's dorsal weapons."_ Huntsman replied and Erica caught a glimpse of his Longsword beginning it's run, the craft bored in with no resistance from the enemy. Four Sparrows launched from the Longsword and streaked in, again the first missile splashed across the barely reconstituted shields and caused them to fail. Allowing for the remaining three missiles to punch through it's thinly armored hull and detonate inside, the craft shuddered as if struck by an earthquake and flames became visible, feeding off the craft's internal atmosphere.

" _Damn it's still not dead?"_ Huntsman asked in shock.

"No, but judging by the way it's moving I am willing to bet that it's certainly mission-killed. But I am not sure, let's have one of our ships hit that thing with it's secondaries just to be sure." Erica replied.

" _I agree, let's do that."_ Huntsman replied.

Erica grinned. _It's game over for you bastard._ She thought as she keyed the comms. "UNSC _Adventurer_ , come in. UNSC _Adventurer_ come in." Erica said, referring to a _Paris_ class Heavy Frigate that was nearby and in the fleet. 

" _This the_ Adventurer _, what's the problem Bubi?"_ The comms officer replied.

"We've got an unknown Covenant Warship here. Got it all recorded, I am thinking it's a gunboat, but were evac winchester here on stuff that can harm it. Think you can kill it for us?" Erica asked over the comms.

" _Sure let me just tell the Captain, out!"_ The comms officer replied.

"Roger." Erica said and sure enough a few minutes later a yellow streak lashed out and the unidentified Covenant ship simply shattered like spun glass hitting concrete.

Of course after landing Erica's maintenance crew had some very interesting words for her. "Jesus fucking goddamned Christ, what the fuck did you go head-to-head with this time Bubi? A fucking Gunboat?" The crew chief responsible for maintenance asked in shock when he saw the extent of the damage.

Erica scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "No, but I think I engaged what might be more or less the Covenant equivalent to the _Lancer_ class from Star Wars either that or the Corellian Gunboat, my money is more on the later. But that thing had multiple Particle Cannon emplacements and two possibly four of what I can only explain are mini-plasma torpedo turrets. Most of the damage came when the bastard shot down one of my Space Phoenixes a mere three kilometers in front of me and I flew right through the resulting debris field." She replied.

"Oh so you _did_ go head-to-head with a goddamned gunboat!" The crew chief replied sharply.

 _End flashback_

"Yeah, too bad the plane was a total write off." Gertrude said with a laugh.

"I am lucky the thing didn't explode on me! If it did, well I wouldn't be here right now!" Erica shot back. 

"Just thought I could bring it up. Still I am _amazed_ that you managed to land that thing. By the way how's your scar?" Gertrude asked and Erica frowned. "It's fine, why do you constantly ask that?" Erica replied.

The scar that Gertrude was referring to was a five inch long jagged thing that swept from her left collar bone down to between her second and third ribs on the right side. She had gotten the stupid thing during her crash during the Skopje Campaign, the main reason that C710 Longsword didn't become an inferno in an instant was because she had been evac winchester on missiles and cannon rounds. Which meant less things to go boom in her plane.

As it stood that crash had resulted in the Big Brass taking her off the frontlines to help with the development process of the F-203 Rapier, the overall design that Mirash Armories had come up with had been good, but she had made several changes mainly an increase in caliber for the gun armament from 50mm to 70mm, making the thing a single-seater, and giving the thing more power than it needed by succeeding in fitting a reactor from a C710 Longsword in it. The result was one of the most badass Aerospace Fighters that the UNSC had ever fielded.

"You know, I've heard rumors that the High Brass is considering awarding you to the Colonial Cross." Gertrude said suddenly as Erica began to do a standard walkaround.

"You're joking right? They do realize that I am already the most decorated fighter pilot in the UNSC and one of the most highly decorated servicemen in the entirety of the UNSC behind the Spartans?" Erica asked stunned. It was true, she had over the course of her career in the UNSC been awarded the Bronze Star twice for heroism, including leading a small security team in repelling boarders on the _Yuri Gagarin_ -she had also gotten a Purple Heart out of that, Plasma burns _were not_ fun-, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for shooting down one hundred twenty Covenant Craft -an incredible feat considering the turnover rate of UNSC Aerospace Pilots- , She was the given the UNSC Navy Long Service Cross Fifth Class for her service to the UNSC Navy of five years, then she was awarded another Purple Heart for her wounds in Skopje-, then she got the Navy Cross for destroying two hundred and fifteen Covenant craft which surpassed most contemporary aces had or even have.- She became the first UNSC fighter pilot to receive the Medal of Honour by shooting down three hundred and fifty two Covenant crafts, which led many to believe that Erica was a super-pilot and a few still do, she also given the UNSC Navy Long Service Cross Fourth Class for her service of 10 years in the UNSC Navy, she then got her third Purple Heart in the Battle of New Sevastopol which many would prefer to not talk about, she then got the UNSC Navy Long Service Cross Third Class for her fifteen years of active service in the UNSC Navy, She got another Purple Heart from a skirmish between UNSC Forces and a United Rebel Front forces, She also got the UNSC Navy Long Service Cross Second Class for twenty years in the UNSC and her most recent award and title, Hero of the United Nations Space Command for when she reached five hundred and seventy two Covenant Crafts shot down. Which is a feat almost unheard of that many think it's legend as to put it to perspective, Erica's score at the time of her getting the Hero of the United Nation Space Command, an award which itself so rare that many forget it exists but back to Erica's score. Erica's score is more than entire squadrons let alone Carrier Air Groups' scores put together, hell you can even include the kills of the ships of their assigned fleets and they still don't come close. Besides all of those awards for valour and bravery, she also had a rather large amount of Campaign medals and ribbons.

Now, High Command is seriously considering of awarding her the Colonial Cross, the highest award which was inspired by the old British Victoria Cross and the defunct German Grand Cross, in the UNSC which is rarely awarded that even if a soldier was hold off an entire regiment of Covenant soldiers and survive was not sure to be considered for the award which means Erica's kill score must be legendary. This, in all will make Erica one of the most decorated soldiers in history with a total of 35 medals and ribbons.

"Wish I was, but from the rumors that I've heard, it sounds like they're serious about it." Gertrude replied and Erica sighed deeply. "But a lot of the medals that I already have, the Medal of Honor and the Hero of the United Nations Space Command, they are both descended from medals of the highest rank in two separate countries the United States of America with the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation with the Hero of the Soviet Union evolving into the Hero of the Russian Federation and thus later the Hero of the United Nations Space Command. So why the Colonial Cross?" Erica asked.

"Well it's the highest and most prestigious personal military decoration that can be bestowed upon a person. Given how just about everyone in the Aerospace Fighter Corps looks up to you and how you have an unprecedented number of confirmed kills, combined with your service length. It was going to happen sooner or later." Gertrude replied with a smile.

"Yeah, you're right. Folks needs heroes, particularly in a war like this, whether you're in the military or a civilian, you need heroes someone to look up too. To keep your hopes up." Erica said, nodding in understanding.

"You have a point there, the thing I'm worried about is the fact of will we be able to turn this war around? Or are we destined to die fighting some hopeless battle?" Gertrude asked, shaking her head in despair.

"I don't know. But as long as we live, we'll keep fighting against the Covenant." Erica replied stiffly.

 **0635 Hours May 20th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System**

 **Medical Facility Endurance In Orbit of Reach**

Commander Carter-A259, call sign Noble One looked at the datapad that was in his hands and what it displayed. The roster for Noble Team:

Noble One, Commander Carter-A256 (Active)

Noble Two, Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 (Active)

Noble Three, Warrant Officer Jun-A266 (Active)

Noble Four, Warrant Officer Emile-A239 (Active)

Noble Five, Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052(Active)

Noble Six, Warrant Officer Thom-A293 (Missing in Action)

While Carter had to admit that Directive-930 was brilliant. It was always something as a slap in the face for the Spartans listing a fallen member as Missing in Action at least to him. But this was because that Noble Team was the only Spartan-III Team that used Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor. Thus, ONI Section II's Directive-930 applied to them as well. The purpose of Directive-930 was to build the legend that Spartans never died, that they were invincible. Invincible. As if, the Spartans in Mjolnir Armor _weren't_ invincible, they were incredibly hard to kill, so much so that the Covenant called the Spartans 'Demons' because of how hard they were to kill.

But it was _possible_ to kill or severely injured a Spartan, it was hard but it was doable. You just needed to be either extremely lucky or have an absolute _metric-fuck ton_ of firepower.

The Battle of Fumirole proved that once again. Kat had suffered so much damage to her right arm thanks to a Fuel Rod Cannon blast from a Banshee that the limb had to be amputated and Thom, well he was killed during that mission delivering the bomb that Kat was supposed to deliver. He went into that _CCS_ class Battlecruiser simply because of the fact that there had been no time for any other members of Noble Team to arrive. He had saved them all from being vaporized from that nuke.

Still that meant another replacement for Noble Team, which was something he wasn't looking forward too. Only himself and Kat were the only original members of Noble Team who was still alive. It usually would've made him wonder who was death going to claim next? But there was always another mission to take him off that train of thought. This time however, Thom's death couldn't have been prevented, there hadn't been anytime for him to get the deactivation code from Kat and then key it in, particularly considering the shape that she'd been in. Thus he'd done the only thing that was possible. He had picked up that nuke and delivered it himself.

"Commander, how's Kat doing?" A voice said behind him, he started and turned and saw Jorge. To say that Jorge was a large man was an understatement, when he wasn't in his armor coming at 223.5 centimeters in height and weighing 168.2 kilograms, he was both figuratively and literally the biggest man on Noble Team. The fact that he was a Spartan-II Commando probably had a hand in that fact as well, sure Carter was a Spartan-III Supersoldier and was a lethal foe. But he couldn't hold a candle to Jorge, the man was 15.3 centimeters taller than him and weighed 54.8 kilograms more. To put it simply, while he might have been the leader of Noble Team, but Jorge was a living, breathing death threat. _Nobody_ if they valued their life messed with Jorge.

"She's still beating herself up over Thom's death. Plus today she's getting fitted with a prosthetic right arm in order to replace the one that she lost at Fumirole." Carter said, shaking his head.

"You know that's not the whole truth. There was nothing that any of us could've done to prevent Thom's death and you know it. Even if Kat had been able to continue after taking that Fuel Rod Cannon hit, it would've cost her too much time to get back up and start running again. Thom made the best call he could." Jorge said, looking at his CO.

"That maybe true. But it was my own damn inadequate team preparation and not factoring in for enemy close air support. Even when I have should've anticipated it being a factor. Because of that I got Thom killed and Kat severely injured to the point that she needs a prosthetic right arm!" Carter said his shoulders slumping.

"Come on Carter, you know that's not true. You know how the saying goes, no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. We would've expected all of the Banshees that the Covenant had to be too busy dealing with our air forces in order to bother us. There's no way we could've expected that Covenant Battlecruiser to launch those five Banshees to give us problems." Jorge replied calmly.

"Which is exactly why I am responsible for Thom's death. I should've expected enemy air support! We didn't have to worry about enemy armor because we had our own armor, plus we really didn't have to worry about enemy infantry, and I figured that friendly air forces would keep enemy air forces busy." Carter said stiffly.

"I can see what you're getting at. But you also forgot Finagle's Law, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Had we planned our operation around that, it's very much likely that it would've gone off without a hitch. But then again, everyone was on edge, particularly considering how many tough battles we had been in before we launched our operation. Besides, it's war the unexpected is bound to happen." Jorge stated.

"Probably, but it's another death on my conscious. Noble Team has lost more than it's fair share of members. Only myself and Kat are the only original members of Noble Team who are still living." Carter said bluntly.

The door slid open and Kat walked in. "Doc says that I am good to go, but said that if I encounter any problem with the prosthetic to report it immediately." She said rolling her shoulders, her new prosthetic whining slightly as the new micro-servos worked.

"Good to hear Kat. Our orders for the time being are that were being deployed to Reach to help deal with a couple of Innie cells that have cropped up suddenly on the Eposz Continent. We had the URF cross reference these cells to check to see if they were URF and they just told us "We are not stupid enough to have cells on Reach or Earth, mainly because the moment they make any sort of noise, they'll have _at best_ an entire infantry battalion drop on their heads. Which means that these are independent rebel cells." Carter said and Kat grimaced.

"Yeah, I agree with the URF there. Still can't believe that they've been fighting a two front war just like we have, against not only us but the Covenant as well. Had they been more open about it, we likely would be in a lot better shape than we are right now." Kat said some what angrily.

"I share the sentiment Kat. Still if anything it's going to be a nice change of pace. At least these Innies will likely have for their heaviest gear AKs, I swear those things are everywhere." Carter said shaking his head at the fact that if the Innie cells they faced weren't URF they almost always had Eastern Bloc Equipment for some reason.

"How's Jun and Emile doing anyway Jorge?" Carter asked.

"Emile wants to kill something, preferably Covenant. But then again, that's normal for him. As for Jun, well he's sleeping, somewhere. I swear when he wants to disappear and take a nap, even I will have to seriously search to find him." Jorge said shaking his head.

Carter sighed. "Not surprised there. Any ideas where Jun could be?" He asked and again the S-II shook his head. "Jun's a sniper, if he doesn't want to be found, he's not going to be found easily." He said.

"So when are we due dirtside?" Kat asked.

"Three days from now, just so we can finish R&R and recovery." Carter said.

"Alright, who are you going to be using to replace Thom?" Kat asked, somewhat bitterly.

"I haven't decided yet. But I am probably going to have a decision by June or July." Carter said.

"Alright, works for me." Jorge said.

 **0840 Hours, May 22nd, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard UNSC** _ **Hindenburg**_ **CFV-255**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, en route Eridani II**

Minna sat in one of the mess halls of the UNSC _Hindenburg_ , lost in thought. Just twenty-hours ago she'd gone through her second actual cryo revival, to say that it was discomforting was an understatement. Mainly because the metabolism was almost completely halted when you were 'put on ice' which meant that you barely aged at all biologically while in Cryostasis. But she had also agreed to meet with Amirah here and discuss what she'd been through during the past twenty-four years or so. Twenty-four years, it had only been half a day back home after she'd received word of her close friend being KIA. To think that she actually had spent twenty-four years fighting this Covenant? It was both simultaneously terrifying and strange.

She looked up as she heard the distinctive sound of boots on Titanium and saw that Amirah and Yoshika walking toward her. They were talking, probably about Amirah's experiences fighting the Covenant, she shook her head. Yoshika had always looked up to Amirah as a mother figure and that probably applied more so now than ever previously.

"Mind if we join you Sergeant?" Amirah asked as they walked up to the table that Minna was sitting at. Both of them each had a cup of coffee in their hands, although Amirah had a second one, probably for her.

"No, I don't mind Captain. If anything you have every right to court martial me and my entire squad for cowardice." Minna said bitterly.

Amirah chuckled slightly as she and Yoshika sat down with her. "No, I talked to Lieutenant Heyliger and he said that the majority of 3rd Platoon nearly broke and ran. Hell, there have been several times were Scarabs have routed the 101st on their own. You got nothing to be ashamed of. Also, I am not talking to you as a superior officer, I am just talking to you as a friend, so please there's no need to call me sir, or ma'am, or Captain." She said with a sweet, motherly smile.

Yoshika picked up on that fact first. "So Amirah-san, what happened to your right eye?" She asked curiously. Minna looked at her friend and saw that Yoshika wasn't joking, Amirah's right eye was clouded and it seemed to have trouble moving as well.

"Yeah, what did happen to your eye?" Minna asked, concern evident in her voice.

"That is a long story and one that I don't like sharing. Mainly because of how my eye got ruined." Amirah said with a sigh.

"What happened?" Yoshika inquired.

Amirah sighed deeply. "It happened on Arcadia in 2531, towards the end of the campaign. I saw a Yeti go empty with his Spike Carbine and I moved in with my shotgun. That was the first and last time I ever did _that_. Anyway that Yeti swung his weapon which has a nasty bayonet-meat cleaver thing, I put my shotgun up to block the blow out of instinct instead of rolling back and blasting the bastard with my shotgun like I _should_ have done and well that thing cleaved right through the shotgun as if it wasn't even there and hit my helmet, which deflected the blow enough that instead of splitting my head in half, the tip carved through the visor and along my face, leaving one hell of a deep corneal abrasion. Thank God my fireteam was covering my back otherwise I wouldn't be here. The doctor managed to save my eye but couldn't save my vision in it's entirety. I was offered an honorable medical discharge or I could remain in service, in a non-combat role. Of course, I wound up taking a third option. I was offered to join the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in a combat role mainly because of my never quit attitude, and I jumped at the chance, pun intended. The rest is pretty much history." Amirah said, somewhat sourly.

"Hot damn, that was a nasty wound!" Yoshika gasped, "Wait, you're in the ODSTs even with that defect?! Are you insane?"

"Yep, that's true, squirt." Amirah said however she felt a tinge of regret after hearing Yoshika's reaction, "I am sorry."

"It's okay but can I heal it for you?" Yoshika asked.

"No, I want to keep the injury as a reminder to never do that again." Amirah answered, "Also, judging from personal experience, trying to use magic makes more Covies focus on you more, I have a feeling they are _intrigued_ by strange things. I recommend that if you need to use magic, only do so when it means victory or just so you can survive."

"Oh I see but are you sure about this?" Yoshika asked.

"Let me live with my mistake, Yoshika," Amirah said.

"So that is why Hartman called you the craziest ODST." Minna concluded as she realized by what her drill sergeant had called Amirah the craziest ODST he has met.

"That's one of the reasons." Amirah smiled. "Well now that I had a moment to think about it, I need to let you know what the Covenant soldiers are and what weapons and vehicles they use and that will, hopefully keep you alive, hopefully."

"Hartman did say that knowing is half of the battle." Minna said.

"Well, take a seat then because this will be a long one." Amirah said as she sat down herself, "Alright, listen carefully because I am only telling you once."

"Hmm," Yoshika hummed as she nodded.

"Good, now let's start with the bastards you are fighting, first of all we have the Grunts, these bastards are your standard soldier or cannon fodder, your choice. Anyway these guys are not dangerous if you are fighting small bands of them but they are dangerous when there is a lot of them." Amirah said.

"Why is that?" Minna asked.

"That is because Grunts are really bad that they make militias look like elite infantry, they almost never use any form of infantry tactics, their aim are so bad that they can't hit the side of the barn even if they were looking straight at it and their grenade throwing skills are worse than a shotput thrower with a deformed arm, this is true of the Minor, Major, Ultra, and Heavy ranks for Grunts, although the higher the rank, the better that they get at shooting and throwing, but this really becomes noticeable with the Ultra. However with that said, don't underestimate Special Operations Grunts, they have pretty respectable shooting skills, are rather decent when it comes to throwing grenades, have rather tough armor, and of course they can carry fucking Fuel Rod Guns!"

"Why is a shit load of them bad?" Yoshika asked, curiously.

"Mainly because well, Grunts are dumb. They are about as smart as dogs, but what they lack in intelligence, they make up for in sheer tenacity. I've seen Grunts hurl themselves at their opponents until the ground was piled high with their bodies and their opponents expended all of their ammunition."

"I can see how that can be a problem, anything else?" Minna asked curiously.

"Yeah, for some reason when Grunts are alone, they don't show even basic Infantry tactics like using cover for example. But when Elites or Brutes are around they somehow learn how to use infantry tactics. But once you kill said Elite or Brute, they panic and thus break and run, this is also true if you're fighting a group of Minors led by a Major, kill the Major and the Minors panic." Amirah replied shaking her head.

"Minor? Major? Those are ranks I am guessing. But how do you tell the difference between a Minor and a Major?" Yoshika asked, confused.

"Minors have orange colored armor, Majors have crimson colored armor, Heavies have green colored armor, Ultras have either white-lilac or silver colored armor, and the Special Operations Grunts have distinctive all jet black armor. Now for differences between the groups, the Minors and Majors are the most common and are used primarily in offensive or defensive actions. The Heavies are often deployed in defensive operations and wield heavy weaponry making them a nasty threat to vehicles. Ultras appear to serve as Field Officers for Grunts and thus are smarter than Majors and Minors, but they rarely wield anything heavier than a needler. Special Operations, well those guys do the missions that no else does, their armor is tough too, plus on occasion the bastards can turn invisible with Active Camouflage."

"Well, that's just dandy. Something tells me that Special Operations Grunts aren't the only ones that can do that. Who are above the Grunts?" Minna asked, sounding somewhat alarmed.

"We'll get to the bastards who can turn invisible later. But above the Grunts are the Jackals, now there are two different types of Jackals, one is your typical bog standard Jackal and the other is called the Skirmisher. They basically look like walking birds, although regular Jackals have quills and Skirmishers have feathers, plus Skirmishers are faster, more agile, can jump higher, and are stronger than Skirmishers are used as dedicated Shock Troops, they are close ranged combatants, they move in packs and use flanking tactics. Other differences is that their eyes are yellow with slitted pupils as opposed to the Jackals whose eyes are large and opaque. Skirmisher heads are more avian than Jackals. But the most noticeable difference is that they don't have large, circular point defense gauntlets which are energy shields. Although the higher ranking Skirmishers do have wrist mounted point-defense gauntlets which are smaller energy shields mounted on their wrists. Skirmisher ranks include Minor, Major, Murmillo, Commando, and Champion. Minors and Majors have grey armor and red-brown armor respectively and no point defense gauntlets. Murmillos have orange armor, a helmet covering their whole head and small point-defense gauntlets on each forearm which they use to cover their bodies while attacking. Commandos don't have the point defense gauntlets but make up for it with heavier armor which is colored bright green, do note that they sometimes use holograms to fool their enemies, luring them into traps, so be careful around them. Champions wear gold armor, they do use holograms and appear to the Skirmisher variant of the Ultra Grunt, meaning they are field officers." Amirah said.

"What ranks of Jackal are there?" Yoshika asked.

"Just three, Minor, Major, and the goddamned fucking Snipers from _hell_." Amirah hissed angrily.

"What are the differences?" Minna asked.

"Between the Minors and Majors? Not much, they both use large circular point defense gauntlets that covers their whole body, with only a small area to allow them to fire. The only way to tell them apart is by the color of their energy shields, Minors have a light blue one while Majors have either an orange or red one. But it can take a heck of a pounding before failing, as in I mean the better part of a clip of ammunition on the Majors. As for the Snipers, they don't have any point-defense gauntlets, but are spectacularly good shots, as in they can ruin your day from a range of about a mile or so and do it effectively. Only way to pinpoint the fuckers is to look for a faint purple light, that's their targeting optic, of course you generally don't know the bastard is there until he drops the first guy with a clean shot from his weapon to the guy's head, which usually results in a long and painful game of 'where the fuck did that come from?'. The Covenant mainly use Jackals as light infantry although at times they can act like goddamned hoplites as in they form a phalanx and slowly advance toward you. But that renders them blind to grenades." Amirah said.

"What's next?" Minna asked.

"The Drones, which are basically just large flying bugs. Although don't underestimate the strength of one, I once saw a pair of Majors lift a fully armored Marine right off his feet and to god knows where. Minors tend to have yellow or green exoskeletons, they aren't that tough but the biggest problem is the fact that they can fly and can thus be sort of hard to hit. Majors are different from Minors in that they have red exoskeletons and weak energy shields, they also have longer wings and can fly faster, but otherwise there's not much to worry about, apart from being a pain. Minors and Majors are strangely the only two types of Drones that fly the most, particularly because all Drone ranks can fly, and sometimes they come in large groups too. Now the Ultras don't fly much and tend to stay on the ground, and have blue and cyan exoskeletons, _but_ they are pretty respectable shots, they also have slightly stronger energy shields than Majors. Now lastly the Leaders, again like the Ultras they don't fly much and are pretty good shots, they are identified by their golden exoskeletons. Thankfully for us all, they don't use grenades, to be frank I don't think they can." Amirah said.

"How do you take care of Drones?" Minna asked.

"Usually large amounts of automatic weapons fire does the trick." Amirah replied.

"That's good." Minna said with a sigh.

"What other opponents will we be facing?" Yoshika asked.

"Brutes, although I call them Yetis, Sasquatch, or Bigfoot. To picture a Brute, just think of a 9 foot tall walking gorilla and you're in the right ballpark for size. They are huge and can take up to twelve AP-FMJ rounds before dropping. Of course some of the fuckers wear power armor, which has rather craptastic shields but it emphasis their strength and power. I once saw a Brute War Chieftan, which if you ever see one, run the fuck away from it, literally pick-up a Mongoose which weighs in at 900-pounds and _throw_ _it_ some ninety yards like a shot put and crush one poor bastard of an ODST underneath it, thing hit him right in the chest; that brute would've made one hell of a football player. Their Power Armor will laugh at SMG fire as well as ball ammunition for MA5s, but AP-FMJ rounds will tear right through it. Although the only ranks that we know for sure that we have encountered are Minors, Majors, Ultras, Captain, Chieftain, and War Chieftan. Minors don't usually wear Power Armor, but when they do it's often dark grey in color, Majors again don't usually wear Power Armor but when they do it's blue in color, Ultras is where Power Armor becomes commonplace and it's indigo-red in color, Captains again often wear Power Armor and it's orange-cobalt in color with purple accents, Chieftains always wear black-red Power Armor, and War Chieftains again always wear gold colored Power Armor with dark gold highlights. But they have pretty weak energy shields, as in a Minor's energy shields will fail after exactly five rounds from an Assault Rifle, Majors well their shields fail after seven rounds, Ultras have their shields fail after twelve rounds from an Assault Rifle, Captains have their energy shields fail after fifteen rounds from an Assault Rifle, Chieftains have their energy shields fail after eighteen rounds from an Assault Rifle, and War Chieftains have very respectable shields, they fail after twenty-five rounds from an Assault Weapon. Good news is, they aren't all that bright although they are tough. Of course the fact that all Brute ranks will occasionally wield instead of a ranged weapon a fucking hammer that if it hits you, you're a very lucky sonofabitch if it doesn't kill you outright, but it will make you wish you were dead. They are also a lot faster than they look." Amirah explained.

"Great, I wonder what's worse than Brutes." Yoshika lamented.

"Did I also add that Yetis have no qualms about _eating_ humans that they have killed?" Amirah added with a shudder.

"Okay, what the _fuck_?!" Minna exclaimed in horror and Yoshika somehow managed to both pale and turn a little green.

"Yeah, that's my sentiment too." Amirah said, shaking her head. "Anyway after the Brutes which are mainly used as disposable muscle and damage sponge cannon fodder so similar to the Grunts but tougher, but there are times where they have been used as main line shock troops but that is rare. However the Elites are next and these guys are the Covenant's main line shock troops and heavy infantry. They fulfill a wide variety of roles from infantry, specialists with roles similar to the Drones, assassins, Special Operations, to being ship captains, admirals, Generals, guardians for the Prophets which are the ruling class of the Covenant, and specialists." She continued.

Yoshika whistled. "Sounds like these guys are like the Proud Warrior Race Guy or something for the Covenant." She said.

"Damn right they are. They are highly intelligent, with a great understanding of tactics for various force sizes depending on their ranks. However they also have a considerable sense of honor. There code of honor is very similar to Japanese Bushido it appears. Even the shortest Elite we've ever seen in combat stands at a hair over seven feet tall although they get as big as eight feet in height. Elite Ranks are Minor, Major, Ultra, General, Ranger, Stealth, Special Operations, Special Operations Officer, Honor Guardsman, Honor Guard Ultra, Zealots which include Fleet Master, Ship Master, and Field Master, Field Marshal, and Arbiter. The armor that they wear with the exception of the Stealth Elites does have energy shields that increases in strength with rank. Minors wear Cobalt colored armor and have energy shields on par with a Brute Ultra, Majors wear metallic scarlet colored armor and have energy shields on par with Brute Captains, Ultras wear white colored armor have energy shields on par Chieftains, Generals wear orange-gold colored armor and have energy shields on par with Brute War Chieftains. Stealth Elites wear light cyan armor however don't tend to use shields, but unless you see a shimmer in the air and switch to thermal, you will have no idea that the bastard is even _there_. Rangers have shields on par with a Major so they are killable, but they fight in the most unforgiving of conditions: the vacuum of space; in light of that, Rangers are equipped with antigravity packs and their armor is totally vacuum sealed. Now then the Special Ops Elite has very tough shields, capable of eating thirty or so rounds before failing and they also have active camo, the Special Ops Officers have even stronger shields capable of eating thirty five to forty rounds of ammunition before failing and they also possess active camo. Both Special Ops ranks wear Jet Black Armor. For Zealots the shield strength varies but it's usually about thirty-two rounds or so and so does the armor. Field Marshals however will eat an _entire magazine_ from an Assault Rifle to the face before the shields drop, their armor is usually dark purple in color. But I've never faced Honor Guards or Arbiters so I have no idea how tough their shields are." Amirah said.

"Nasty, anything else?" Minna asked, sounding worried.

Amirah pondered that for a moment before nodding. "One last thing. The Hunters. They are walking tanks with the firepower to boot in every sense of the word. A Hunter is actually made of thousands of smaller individual creatures, I am not sure on the exact science, but anyway they have two arms. There left arm has a two-ton twelve centimeter thick shield that is all but impervious to anything save heavy weapons, while in their right arm depending on rank they have either an Assault Cannon with two firing modes, one which fires globs of incinardy gel and the other fires a continuous beam; that is used by the Minors and Majors respectively, which have Blue armor plating covering their body and Gold colored armor plating covering their bodies respectively. The last rank is believed to either be Ultra or Special Operations but most believe it's the later because of the Jet Black colored armor-plating, that and the Hunter's Assault Cannon is replaced with what appears to be a variant of the Shade's Plasma Cannons, it's capable of rapid fire and killing a man in a single burst of plasma. The thickness of the armor plates that cover the Hunters for all ranks is roughly eight centimeters thick and they can tank an enormous amount of rifle fire before falling. Oh and you kill one, the other goes absolutely nuts for some reason." Amirah said bluntly.

"Wow, looks there seems to be a lot of things that want to kill us." Minna said.

"And you have been fighting them for over twenty years now." Yoshika said.

"Yes, I am beginning to get sick of it." Amirah grumbled.

"Wait, I have a question," Minna said, "Have you seen Gertrude and or Erica?"

"I was wondering if you were going to ask that." Amirah said.

"Well, I have however it has been a few years at least, I think it was in 2537 since I seen them, well Erica to be specific." Amirah said, "Oddly enough, it was during an award ceremony."

"Who was being awarded?" Yoshika asked.

"Erica and me." Amirah said.

"What awards were you getting?" Yoshika asked.

"Medal of Honours for both of me and Erica for skill, bravery and leadership of my company in the battle of New Kiev where we held the town long enough for the badly depleted 90th Panzergrenadier Division to be evacuated and for shooting down three hundred and fifty two kills." Amirah answered as she pulled out her pipe which Yoshika gave a look of disapproval.

"You still smoke?" Yoshika asked, disappointment in her voice.

"Well I am sorry your mother figure is not perfect, Yoshika but smoking helps me calm down or I would be insane right now and back in our world." Amirah answered, "Also you are wrong, I am not smoking it, that would violate three of the regulations on this ship."

"How did she look like?" Minna asked.

"Huh, that's a bit hard but I can remember it, one because it was the one time I ever wore my dress uniform in all my service life until then..." Amirah answered.

 _Flashback_

 _1100 Hours, November 22nd 2537  
Reach_

Amirah was trying her best to make her bad eye unnoticeable but it was hard given how the room was brightly lit. It was becoming painful for her but she didn't want anyone especially in top brass to find out that the one of the soldiers of the hour was in fact not in fighting shape.

"Captain Sulaiman," said a voice. Amirah turned and found a lieutenant holding a clipboard walking up to her.

"Sorry?" Amirah asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Captain, I am Lieutenant Oyodo and I need you to head to the seats in front, you will be seated in seat number A-51, that would be next Lieutenant Commander Hartmann."

"Thank you, lieutenant." Amirah said as she made her way to her seat. There was a naval officer in her navy whites, she had short blonde hair that didn't reach her shoulders. She had a very youthful face which made her look much younger. This made Amirah wonder if the seat placement was deliberate as Amirah knows of how people thinks she looks that she actually is. But she didn't mind because the Navy officer looked gorgeous which Amirah liked.

"Well, so what they got you in for?" Amirah asked the officer.

"Medal of Honour, what about you?" The officer said.

"Same here, what you are getting it for?" Amirah asked.

"Shooting down three hundred and fifty two Covenant planes." The officer said.

"Impressive." Amirah grinned.

"And what about you? What's your Medal of Honour achievement?" The officer asked.

"I was in charge of a company which you may of heard, called Easy Company of the 101st Shock Troop Division." Amirah said.

"I heard of you lot, well didn't think to be sitting next to the commander of those fellas." The officer praised.

"Why thanks and I must say, you are not bad yourself, Navy Ace." Amirah smiled.

"Well anyway, as you were saying?" The officer inquired.

"Ah yes, now basically my company held the town of New Kiev for 72 hours so that the 90th Panzergrenadier Division could be evacuated along with civilians." Amirah said.

"Hey, I remember that battle, there is where I shot down my 352nd kill, I think it was a Banshee." The officer said.

"Wait… are you part of the Jolly Rogers Squadron? Because I remember seeing their emblems on one of the fighters that flew overhead and shot down the flight of Banshee that showed up." Amirah asked.

"Yeah, I am part of the Jolly Rogers Squadron." The officer asked.

"Wait, what's your nose art?" Amirah asked.

"Black Tulip petals, why?" The officer asked.

"Holy shit, what a small world. You saved my ass by taking out that Banshee, it was about to shoot up my CP just as you showed up." Amirah said.

"Well, small world is right, by the way, I am Lieutenant Commander Erica Angela Hartmann of UNSC Navy, pleasure to meet you" Erica smiled.

"Captain Amirah Aisyah Sulaiman, UNSC ODST, pleasure is mine." Amirah smiled back. _Oh, she deserves a present for saving my ass._

After the ceremony, Amirah and the rest of the officers gathered there headed to the lounge to relax, chat, exchange war stories and crack jokes and Amirah was no different but she was doing it with someone who has gotten her fancy, the young, cute looking Erica Hartmann. The two exchanged stories and enjoyed drinks and soon both were drunk and had to use each other for support and they made their way into Erica's room because it was the nearest and Amirah was in no mood to drive to her own hotel.

"Nice place you got here, Ricky." Amirah drunkenly smiled as she looked around

"Thanks *Hiccups* Amy." Erica smiled as she closed the door. She took a few steps from the door and she tripped on nothing and fell towards Amirah. Amirah was unprepared for Erica falling over, fell over herself onto the bed. The two looked at each other drunkenly before they started laughing.

"Well, that's one way to get into bed." Amirah smiled.

"Well better than the floor." Erica replied, "Damn, you look like so badass."

"Well you are cute and I like that." Amirah smiled. It didn't take long for the Ace of Aces and EDE to get into bed and make it rock.

 _End of Flashback_

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Minna interrupted, "You and Erica had sex?"

"Yeah…" Amirah blushed in embarrassment, "But in my defense I didn't know at the time that Erica was Erica and besides we both were drunk."

"Oh my god…" Yoshika gasped.

"Please tell me that it was a one time thing… Oh my god Amirah, seriously?" Minna gasped as she saw Amirah nervously look away from her.

"*Nervous laughter*, we are actually dating." Amirah sheepishly admitted.

"Mein Gott." Minna gasped.

"I had just spoken to her, before you two came in." Amirah added.

"How is she?" Yoshika asked.

"She's doing well, Yoshika and so is Gertrude before you ask." Amirah said, internally thankful for the change in topic, "ANYWAY let's get back to the original reason for this conversation."

"Fine." Minna grumbled.

"Now, let's start with the most common weapon you will find yourself fighting against, the Type 25 Plasma Pistol, Army Troops, Marines, ODSTs, and Spartans call the thing the Plasma Pistol although on occasion they will call the thing a ray gun. But for ease of reference, we all kind of agree to call it Plasma Pistol."

"Why don't you call it by its designation number?" Minna asked.

"Then we would get it mixed up with another Covenant weapon, the Type 25 plasma rifle." Amirah answers, "And no one wants that mistake, it can kill."

"Oh, make sense if you put it that way." Minna said.

"Now back to the pistol, the gun itself is not that powerful but only if you are your armour, anything less and it will be a bad day for you." Amirah, "Now there are three modes to the gun, single fire, semi auto and overcharge and I can tell you that the overcharge mode is dangerous to armoured soldiers even in the armour you lot are using and it can give me a bad day as well. But on the bright side, it takes a few seconds to charge up for the shot and the weapon emits a very noticeable bright green glow which makes the shooter an easier target."

"Okay. what else is there?" Minna asked.

"Well there is the Type 25 Plasma Rifle and the Type 25 Brute Plasma Rifle which are basically the same rifle only the latter is a modified version of the former. Now how to tell the differences is that the former is blue in colour while the latter is red but I think they are more pink in colour. But I digress, now the Blue rifle is a plasma rifle that can fire either in semi or full automatic modes and it will tear through shields like a hot knife through butter and there is only a little recoil to it. However it is a bitch to aim and it is quite heavy. Now for the Brute version, that thing is the same like its standard cousin with the main difference it fires a weaker bolt of plasma at a higher rate. Also this thing is bad at long range just like my right eye." Amirah said.

"Okay, that was bad joke." Minna said.

"No offense but I have to agree with Minna." Yoshika said.

"Ah you two hurt me." Amirah mockingly frowned, "But moving on, we now have the Type 25 Carbine. Now this heavy fucker may look like a bunch of pieces of scrap metal stuck together but don't be fooled, this thing is lethal and the metallic spikes coming out of this thing will give anyone a bad time even ODSTs like myself and I can attest to that. And it was this that gave me this" Amirah pointed to her bad eye.

"Ouch." Minna winced.

"Now we move on to the Type 25 Brute Shot which is a Covenant Grenade Launcher. This thing shoots fast and for some fucking reason has a fucking blade on it, I swear these bastards love blades more than I do, and I was the Lady of Knives for fuck sakes. Anyway, this things can shoot four grenades in three seconds which sounds good until you find out this thing only has six grenades so after firing that burst, you only got two grenades left.

"Oh, that sounds bad." Yoshika said.

"It is," Amirah said, "Now for the first Sniper Weapon, the Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle. You're more likely to encounter the improved variant of this weapon the Type-50 Sniper Rifle System. But the overall function is exactly the same, the weapon fires a beam of ionized particles at high velocity. Both weapons will rip through light cover and even hard cover like paper with ease and then through the poor bastard behind said cover and then proceed to burn a sizeable hole into the floor or wall. Another thing, these two weapons _don't_ need to hit you in the head to kill instantly, even a body shot will nine times out of ten be fatal hell a _near miss_ can put you out of action with third-degree burns. It will punch right through my armor like a blowtorch taken to rice paper. I've never been hit by these weapons thank god, but you know a sniper with these weapons is in the area when the first guy goes down, blood and steam whistling out of the nice neat new hole in their head, you just _know_ you're in for a long miserable game of 'where the fuck did that come from?'. Thankfully, though only Jackal Snipers use them, although I _hate_ the damn things." Amirah said bitterly.

"I am guessing, you had several run ins with those snipers?" Minna asked.

"Yes." Amirah replied, "Now moving on."

"Is there anything else we have to worry about?" Minna asked, rightfully concerned. "Plenty, we're just scratching the surface of the amount of rather exotic stuff that the Covenant uses. So in that regard, let's really dive deep. One of the weapons that you seriously need to watch out for are Type-49 Directed Energy Rifle/Improved. This fucking thing is an improved version of the Type-25 Plasma Rifle, but it's shots travel much faster, it's got a longer range, and it can shoot longer before overheating and thus ceasing operation in order to cool itself. I haven't seen a Brute variant of the stupid thing, but I honestly won't be surprised if something like that exists. However it's becoming a more and more common sight on the battlefield." Amirah said.

"The war gets better and better, huh?" Minna asked sarcastically.

"And there is more. Well I am not sure about the Type 31 Needle Rifle, that is not as common as the Type 25 Plasma Rifle or its variants but there is still a chance of encountering this rifle. This rifle is capable of firing in either semi-automatic or full automatic and fires thin sharp Blamite projectiles which look like needles hence the name and these needles will detonate when they pierce flesh but I have seen some that just go straight through and not go off. Doesn't matter really, you are screwed either way. Oh and if you get stuck with six or so of the damn things, they all go off all at once, usually pulping the poor son of a bitch and setting his grenades off. Thankfully they are only wielded by Elites, Brutes, Jackal Snipers, Skirmishers, and on occasion even Drones."

"Makes it all the better." Minna grumbled.

"Still on the topic of needle firing weapons, we got the Type 33 Guided Munitions Launcher, also known as the Needler, which fires crystal shards at its target hence you can see why we called the Needler. It operates on the same function as Needle Rifle, but it's shots can actually _home_ in on a target. Plus nearly all Covenant Ranks save Grunt, Drone, Skirmisher, and Jackal Minors can use them." Amirah said.

"That sounds bad." Yoshika said.

"Trust me, it is." Amirah said, "Now we got another weapon called the Type 39 Rifle which we all call Meat Scorchers and the reason is when thing is fired, it creates an odour similar to overcooked meat. And like with all Brute guns, these are equipped with giant bayonets which will slice through even Wolverine suit."

"That smells disgusting." Yoshika said.

"Now for a weapon that you may not encounter as often as it only came out last year, the Type 51 Carbine. It is a semi-automatic marksman rifle. It is a dangerous weapon both for the shooter and the victim. If ever you are going to use it, don't breath in when it ejects. The radiation can give you a bad case of migraine. I found that out the hard way." Amirah remembered the first time she picked up a Type 51 Carbine. She then remembered something. "Oh before I forget about it, there's also the Type-45 Directed Energy Weapon/Carbine, although everyone calls it the Particle Carbine, the spooks think it's a DMR variant of the Beam Rifle, like the regular Carbine and Needle Rifle it's used by Jackal Snipers, although other species do wield it. It's weaker than a regular Particle Beam Weapon, as in it takes a couple of shots to punch through hard cover, but it still pierces armor effortlessly."

"I will make sure the rest and us do our best to remember that." Minna said.

"Also we got the Type 51 Plasma Repeater or more appropriately the Plasma Automatic Rifle which is basically a more rapid firing version of the Type-25 Plasma Rifle but a price, those shots are weaker not much weaker but it shows when you needs to kill heavily armoured targets but you can only fire for nine seconds before it overheats, of course it can allow one to put a tremendous amount of fire down range, thanks to its rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute." Amirah said.

"Okay. Wow you have seen a lot." Yoshika said.

"Oh, I am not done yet, I haven't started talking about the Covenant's heavier guns and weapons. There is the Type 33 Fuel Rod gun which fires these green rods which are radioactive so even if doesn't hit you, being near the impact is bad enough. Then there you have your heavy support weapons like the Type 42 Directed Energy Support Weapon which is basically your heavy machine gun with about double the rate of fire of a M247H machine gun. Then you got it's bigger younger brother the Type 52 Directed Energy Support Weapon but it has half the rate of fire of the 42, but the plasma bolts are a hell of a lot stronger. With shots from the 42 being on par with the Plasma Automatic Rifle."

"Oh joy." Minna and Yoshika said in unison.

"Now for grenades, first which is I swear is something someone thought was a sick joke, the Type 1 Plasma Grenade. This is basically the Covenant's Hand Grenade but this fucker will stick on you and won't come off until it goes off with you still stuck to it. Next you got the Brute Grenade which is deadly for all parties even for the thrower as it will launch spikes in every direction so be careful when you are thinking of using it. Then we got the Type 3 Fire-bomb which self-explanatory and finally we have the Type 4 Anti-material Grenade which the Covenant usually use on vehicles and it does the job given the fact it is basically a fucking mortar shell on steroids. Also if you hear beeping, throw the thing as far as you can. Immediately."

"Okay." Minna nodded.

"Now, one more thing before we move to vehicles." Amirah said.

"What is that?" Yoshika asked.

"That would be melee weapons, the most common is the Type 1 Energy Sword which dangerous for two reasons, one it is a goddamn sword that has plasma edges and two, the wielder is going to be an Elite Major or _higher_ and that means you are not going to have a good day and sometimes they wield not one but _two_. The Energy Sword also has a smaller brother, wrist mounted Energy Daggers, but they are only used in silent takedowns from what I've learned. Next is the Type 2 Gravity Hammer which are usually found in the hands of a Brute and the big fuckers know how to use it to make you into a pile of crushed meat. Then you have the maces which will do you in for an early grave because that thing is 30 pounds going as fast as you can swing it, yeah, not a pleasant experience."

"Ouch, I wonder what the Covenant use for vehicles." Yoshika said and Minna nodded.

"They have quite a number of vehicles. First off is the Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage, but everyone calls it the Wraith. It's a mortar tank believe it or not, designed to bombard it's opponents from stand-off range with it's heavy Energy Mortar. The thing hovers about a meter or so off the ground thanks to it's anti-gravity drive. It's armor is also tough as well, as in it will laugh at a Spear rocket from the front, but you manage to get at it's side or rear then you got a kill for sure. Now the Energy Mortar that the standard Wraith fires is an incredibly lethal weapon. It's plasma held within a magnetic bubble, when it hits the ground the bubble fails and the plasma spreads out over the ground. Everything within twenty meters of the impact zone: concrete, Titanium-C, flesh, it doesn't matter it simply vaporizes. Leaving behind a glassy smooth surface. Of course, after the vaporization threshold it's still fatal out to thirty-five to forty meters out and will severely wound you even out to sixty meters from the impact point. Plus it's not the only model either, depending on when the Wraith you're facing was produced it either has two automated Plasma Cannons or a manned Plasma Cannon turret. The upside is that the standard Wraith _sucks ass_ at tank-on-tank warfare. As in, a single platoon of Scorpions will if they use fire and maneuver can go barrel-to-barrel with an entire _company_ of Mortar Wraiths and win." Amirah said explaining the Wraith in detail.

"Ouch, wait. What's the range on that thing's Energy Mortar?" Minna asked.

"Roughly twenty kilometers or so, but unless there's a lot of them they really suck at long range shooting." Amirah replied.

"Hang on, you said that there is more than one Wraith variant. What are the others?" Yoshika asked and Amirah grimaced.

"The others are the Type-28 Plasma Cannon Assault Gun Carriage and the Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery. The Type-28 replaces the Energy Mortar with depending on when it was produced as in roughly pre-2551 models use a Heavy Plasma Turret that's a massively scaled down version of the one Covenant Warships use to fire unguided plasma torpedoes and post-2551 models have a scaled down Particle Cannon. These things are basically the Covenant's answer to our tanks and can fight a UNSC MBT on about a two for one basis in favor of the UNSC. Although post 2549 variants replace the twin automated Plasma Cannons with a Directed Energy Support Weapon that's manned by a gunner. Again, they have same armor as the standard Wraith. But they are rather crappy at dealing with infantry. Now the Type-52 Anti-Air Artillery is new, hell these things were first seen at Fumirole, these things trade their Energy Mortar for a mount with six rapid-fire fuel rod guns that use the same-type of ammunition as the infantry Fuel Rod Gun, except they are used as AA weapons and will easily ruin the day of a Pelican Dropship or Wombat UCAV and will fuck a Longsword, Shortsword, or Cutlass's shit up. Although don't underestimate it in the anti-infantry role, just one of those things managed to wipe out three-quarters of one of my platoons on Fumirole before we managed to kill it. However it appears that it's mainly used in the Anti-Air role." Amirah said explaining the two variants of the Wraith.

"Alright, I will keep that in mind. So just a Jackhammer launcher will open one of those things up?" Minna asked.

"Yeah, it will." Amirah said.

"That's a relief, what else does the Covenant have for vehicles?"

"Well for ground attack craft they have three craft that can fulfill that role. One of the craft is something that you see on every battlefield in this damn war. The other two, well you see those things and you are in _deep shit_ and I've been there once and don't want to do so again. Anyway the first type is the Type-26 Ground Support Craft also known as the Banshee, it is armed with a heavy fuel rod cannon and two class two plasma cannons. The plasma cannons will easily cut down infantry even ODSTs with ease as in two or three bolts of plasma before dropping and the fuel rod cannon will turn a Warthog into twisted scrap metal and will mission kill a UNSC MBT with a single hit. They are lightly armored and massed Automatic Weapons fire can bring them down and of course a Jackhammer will turn one into confetti; but the thing also has a bit of psychological warfare, when it turns the air passing between its wings howls like a Banshee. The other two are the Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multirole Fighter also known as the _Seraph_ , this thing is the primary Covenant Aerospace Fighter and is used in a variety of tasks but is mostly used in the fighter role. Only Covenant warships carry them, they are armed with two rapid firing Heavy Plasma Cannons and two slightly angled down Pulse Laser weapons for strafing, they can also carry a single plasma charge or antimatter charge or they can carry four air-to-ground Antimatter missiles. However, they are rarely used in atmosphere because while they are decently quick they are rather sluggish in the maneuverability department, to the point that I am certain something like a X-02 Wyvern can outmaneuver one in atmo. However the _Seraph_ does have Energy Shields, it can absorb several Jackhammer hits before failing of course, granted since they maneuver poorly often times just taking a hit from a Jackhammer will buffet one severely enough that it can enter an unrecoverable tumble that results in the fighter simply pancaking into the ground. The last variant is the Type-35 Exoatmospheric Bomber also known as the _Moroi_ , it's a designed for one thing and that's bombing, often used in crippling UNSC/URF Warships it's armed with only two Heavy Plasma Cannons and has a similar shape to the _Seraph_ , but it has on each side, two swept delta wings. This gives it exceptional maneuverability in atmosphere, it's two internal weapons bays can hold a wide variety of weapons, from plasma and antimatter charges to multiple missiles. They also have energy shields that will shrug off multiple hits from Jackhammer rockets with startling ease, but they are only used by Covenant Warships. Of course the only time I had to fight them was back in 2536, let me tell you, that was one hell of a FUBAR battle." Amirah said shaking her head.

"Great, so I am willing to bet that if we see _Seraphs_ or _Morois_ we are probably utterly fucked." Minna said shaking her head.

"Yeah pretty much. Although, one thing you should know about is the Type-25 Rapid Assault Vehicle, also known as the Chopper, used exclusively by Brutes. It's a nasty sonofabitch, it has two large wheels at the front, I've seen this monster cleave a Warthog in two with _ease_ and just keep on going. Of course, if it runs someone over, it will literally turn them into mostly red and a white paste and spit chunks out the back as if the poor bastard had gone through a wood chipper. The fact that it has four large and powerful cannons that will tear the crap out of anything save an MBT makes them dangerous. Of course, the way that a Yeti looks like when he's sitting in the damn thing is as if he's on a motorcycle chopper and wouldn't exactly give two shits about anything." Amirah explained.

"Great." Minna and Yoshika groaned in unison, while both turning a little pale.

"Yeah, well I feel like I don't need to explain the Scarab and Locust, you've already seen those things in action. So really no need to explain those things." Amirah said shaking her head.

"Yeah, christ I've never been so terrified in my life than I was then." Minna muttered.

"Other vehicles that the Covenant use include the Type-48 Light Assault Gun Carriage, although just about everyone calls them Revenants. They have a Light Energy Mortar that will on impact vaporize anything within a seven meter radius and it doesn't have any automated Plasma Cannons or turret ring mounted directed energy weapon, it's simply too small. Spears will rip it apart as will ARC-920s, hell even a 40mm Micro-RPG will tear one up pretty effectively and the crew is exposed. So you can drop them with sniper fire of course it's hull will struggle to stop 12.7x99mm rounds so even regular Warthogs can take them out." Amirah said.

"Oh, so light tanks used for harassing and scouting?" Minna asked.

"In essence yes, often times when engaging a Covenant scout team they will often have besides the Revenant usually a couple of Type-32 Rapid Attack Vehicles, although everyone calls them Ghosts. They have anti-gravity drives and are pretty damn quick. They are armed with two class-2 Energy Weapons which will cut down even ODSTs with startling ease. Problem is that it's pretty lightly armored as in massed Assault Rifle fire will be able to take one down. Often times they are accompanied by Type-46 Infantry Support Vehicles or Spectres which are pretty much the Covenant's answer to our Warthogs, they have a driver, two passengers, and a gunner, they actually compliment each other pretty well. Anyway the Type-46 Infantry Support Vehicle has a rather lethal plasma cannon that will screw over Pelicans, Pelican Gunships, Falcons, Kestrels, Hornets, Sparrowhawks, Skyhawks, although they won't really ruin the day of a Vulture Gunship. Needless to say Spectre's are lethal adversaries that shouldn't be underestimated but to kill one a shot from an ARC-920, Jackhammer, or Spear will do it in." Amirah explained.

"Interesting, I bet the Covenant probably looked at the Warthog and decided that they needed one of their own." Yoshika said and Amirah nodded in response before suddenly looking thoughtful.

"Gah! Crap, I almost forgot about four other vehicles. The Type-27 Heavy Artillery Carriage or the Chimera as everyone calls it, this vehicle is armed with a three Heavy Energy Mortars and is basically a SPG although some have been used as an Infantry Support Tank and thus instead of three Heavy Energy Mortars it mounts only one but has four directed energy support weapon emplacements as well. Thankfully they are mostly used in the heavy mobile artillery piece considering it can hurl more plasma down range than a regular Wraith can. These things can decimate UNSC/URF Formations with stunning ease. Once saw almost an entire MEU _routed_ by just a single battery of the things. Cleaning up _that_ particular TARFU'd mess was near impossible and resulted in me getting three additional scars plus three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder." She explained.

"Ouch, that doesn't sound like fun at all to deal with at all." Yoshika said.

"Trust me, it ain't." Amirah said with a sigh.

"Wait, you said four. What are the others?" Minna asked.

"The second one is the Type-29 Troop/Vehicle Transport although all of us troops call it the Shadow. There are two variants, both are armed with what appears to be a variant of the Shade Turret, it provides a 360 degree field of fire and will cut down armored infantry rather easily. Now each of the two variants is different, one variant carries a single Ghost while the other variant carries eight infantry into battle. Problem is it's big and unwieldy easily out maneuvered by something like a Warthog. However since the transport bay is exposed in the infantry transport variant, the infantry inside can lend their own firepower to a battle. They are also tough, I mean an M41 LAAG will take one down if you unload enough ammunition into the stinking thing but it will tank at least a solid minute of 12.7x99mm Armor-Piercing-Explosive-Incendiary, High-Explosive Armor-Piercing-Incendiary, Armor-Piercing-Incendiary-Tracer ammunition, the standard belt on an M41 LAAG, crazy." Amirah explained.

"Damn, that's quite a bit of firepower that the Shadow can absorb. I mean, the 12.7x99mm round is nothing to sneeze at, particularly considering the composition of the belt, I mean APEI, HEAPI, and APIT are by themselves incredibly powerful rounds. The fact that the Shadow can absorb around nine-hundred rounds of the stuff is incredible." Minna said awed.

"Tell me about it. Although Banshees are usually very cautious when there is a Warthog equipped with an M41 LAAG around or even just a stationary M41 LAAG mount. Mainly because well the M41 LAAG just shreds Banshees and pulverizes Covenant infantry, hell I once saw a burst from an M41 tear a Skirmisher in two." Amirah replied truthfully.

"Ouch." Yoshika said simply and Amirah nodded.

"What else could we be facing?" Minna asked.

"To be frank, you've got the Covenant Shades, which are Anti-Infantry Stationary Guns, and while there are several models. They are all very good at scything down infantry like a combine harvester taken to a Wheat field. Plus there is an AA variant and an Anti-Armor variant, but if you know what you're doing, they aren't too big of a threat to infantry. But I digress you shouldn't underestimate them, that would be a mistake." Amirah said.

"Yeah, when you underestimate your opponent, Murphy tends to kick you in the face." Minna said which caused the ODST to bust out laughing. "That's so true! Never underestimate your opponent and always have about five backup plans in case your main plan goes in the crapper, which considering Murphy's Law of Combat, generally tends to happen at least once." She explained.

"I thought you tended to have besides your main battle plan three backup plans. What caused the change?" Yoshika asked curiously.

"New Kiev, that's what; let's just say I've never seen so many Scarabs and Locusts in my life and really don't want to see that many again." Amirah said shuddering.

"What do you mean by that?" Minna asked confused.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Amirah replied stiffly.

"You know I am going to ask around about what happened at New Kiev." Minna said.

"I know that, but trust me you don't want to know. Let's just say that it was a bad day to be on the ground or in the air over New Kiev." Amirah said shuddering.

"I don't think I've ever seen you shudder like that." Yoshika remarked.

"Your right, mainly because that was the first battle were the Covenant deployed Type-36 Scarabs _en masse_ combined with Locusts _en masse_. Plus that was also the battle where they revealed the fucking Energy Bayonet. Which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like and being on the receiving end of a charge is terrifying. Anyway, let's get off of these morbid thoughts and onto a new topic. Covenant Dropships. There are two types the Phantom and the Spirit, the Phantom is roughly beetle shaped and can deploy either thirty infantry into battle or vehicles, up to and including a Wraith tank. They do have a couple of Plasma Cannons for providing fire-support but they can be blown off with some firepower, as in a 40mm Micro-RPG, but to bring a Phantom down you need some real serious firepower, as in around four Jackhammer rockets or so to. The Spirit Dropship is roughly shaped like a tuning fork and again can only carry thirty or so infantry and often times a single Ghost as well. For weaponry well all they got is either a Heavy Plasma Cannon or a Light Plasma Mortar. Now unlike Phantoms, the Spirit isn't all that well armored, I mean, if you know where to aim even Micro-RPGs can bring one down and will one hit from a Jackhammer will just rip one apart." Amirah said.

"So does that cover everything?" Yoshika asked, sounding a bit hopeful.

"Indeed it does squirt. Nothing much for it really. But that is basically everything I know on every single Covenant infantry and piece of equipment that I know of. But if the Covenant pop an unexpected surprise on you don't blame me, there's no way in hell we've seen everything the Covenant have." Amirah said as she stood up while pocketing her pipe. "Now I would suggest you two go inform your squadmates as soon as possible while the information is still fresh in your heads but I wouldn't be surprised if you can't remember them all. The only reason I remember them is because I see them all the damn time."

"We will, Amirah." Minna said, "It was nice to see you again even if that meant finding out that you had sex with Erica."

"You are not going to let that slide are you?" Amirah asked.

"Never." Minna said.

"Figures." Amirah said before she reached out and ruffled Yoshika's hair, "Promise me that you keep safe out there okay?"

"If you do the same Amirah." Yoshika said.

"That I can't do, Yoshika or I wouldn't be able to be part of the fight because my entire job is dangerous." Amirah said.

"I know but try to be careful, you are like a mom to me and I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Yoshika requested as she hugged Amirah.

"I will try my best, Yoshika" Amirah softly smiled as she embraced Yoshika back, "Now you better head back, your squadmates need to know what I told you."

"Yes Amirah, I will." Yoshika said as they let go of each other's embrace.

"Come on Yoshika, time to go." Minna said as she held Yoshika's shoulder, "Until we meet again Captain."

"Good bye, Sergeant." Amirah grinned which Minna groaned in response and Amirah watched the two leave before she headed back to her quarters after she returned the keys to the quartermaster of the ship before heading to her quarters which was close to where her men were stationed. It was a bare room with a desk, a bunk, a water closet and a small cupboard. The only sign that she was assigned the room was her duffel bag, her sidearms, the standard issue M6C Personal Defense Weapon and her personal -and antique- M1911A1 which she had on her ever since she showed up. Her exoskeleton was stored in the locker with the rest of her company's.

"Well, what should I do now? I still got a few more hours to kill before bed." Amirah said before she went to her bag to look for something to do. "Well, should I read? Nah, I already read the volumes I got on hand and the rest are back on Reach, how about a game? Ah right, my laptop is back on Reach as well. Oh wait, I got my tablet, I will just watch some anime and I know just what to watch."

Amirah got into her chair and opened up an anime she loved to watch despite how old it was, it was an old slice of life anime that Amirah found during one of her off time. Amirah felt she deserved to relax and unwind but deep down, she had a feeling something big was coming and it was not good. Of course, what she didn't know was simply how _monumental_ the event that was coming was.

 **AN: Alright, that just about wraps up this chapter and don't worry, we will see the members of the 501st JFW who are in the Army will have a chance to face the Covenant in battle and rather soon. But, before that happens, we're going to be covering a major battle over the next couple of chapters, because well we figured that you need cheering up and are ready to see some serious action. As in, we are going to Battle of Sigma Octanus IV people! Now to picture the Chimera and Cutlass just look at the cut Aerial Artillery and Falcon fighter from Halo Wars. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not really besides this. I bet none of you saw Amirah's flashback did you? Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was a long one.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright folks, so I guess you're really anxious to see two members of the 501st JFW kick some Covenant ass. With that in mind, we're going to Sigma Octanus IV, where we will be introduced to a rather important supporting character as well and it helps lay the groundwork for the rest of the story to occur. Also note, heavy inspiration for this chapter comes from the Eric Nylund's Novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach.**

 **Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not really but besides than lets see those aces fly**

 **SECTION I: Sigma Octanus**

 **0000 Hours, July 17, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **UNSC Remote Scanning Outpost** _ **Archimedes**_

 **On the edge of the Sigma Octanus System**

To say that Remote Scanning Outpost _Archimedes_ was in the middle of nowhere was not exactly true. The _Archimedes_ was on the edge of the Sigma Octanus System, which was one of the last of the middle colonies. The system itself was a binary star system with four planets of which, Sigma Octanus IV was colonized. The colony of Sigma Octanus IV was home to some 17 million people which meant that the role that _Archimedes_ served was vastly important. The role of these Remote Scanning Outposts was vastly important however, they scanned both deep space and slipspace looking for among other things Pirates, Scientific Phenomena, and most particularly the Covenant.

However, Ensign William Lovell didn't really mind that. He scratched his head and yawned as he sat down at his duty station to start his shift. Setting a mug of steaming hot coffee down in the cup holder to hold the mug, while at the sametime the wraparound holographic television display screens at his station booted up in response to his presence.

" _Good morning Ensign Lovell,"_ The cold and emotionless female voice of the computer said.

"Morning sexy," Lovell said. It had been many months actually a year really since he had seen a real woman. Thus the cold female voice of the computer was bound to be the closest thing he was likely ever going to get in terms of getting date.

" _Voiceprint match,"_ The computer confirmed as it matched his words to the vocal patterns on record for him. _"Please enter password."_ It continued.

Lovell typed the password: ThereOncewasAgirl.

Lovell had never taken his duty too seriously. That was more than likely the main reason why he only had made it through his second year at the Academy and more to the point why he had been assigned to _Archimedes_ Remote Scanning Outpost for the past year, stuck on the third shift. However he didn't really care, because that suited him just fine.

" _Please reenter password."_ The computer intoned, Lovell sighed as he retyped the password, this time being more careful as he did so: ThereOnceWasAGirl.

After the horrifically bad first contact with the Covenant that had resulted in not only the entire crew of the scout ship _Argo_ but also the entirety of the crews of the CMA _Vostok_ and CMA _Arabia_ and had resulted in the CMA _Heracles_ being heavily damaged with over a quarter of her crew killed plus the vast majority of the population of four million on the colony of Harvest. The UNSC had gone to a wartime footing and he had volunteered to join the fight.

When Admiral Preston Cole had defeated the Covenant at Harvest in 2531 after a five-year long campaign; his victory had been publicized on every vid and holo throughout the Outer, Middle, and Inner Colonies all the way to Earth. However the ONI Section I Propaganda Machine had left out one small detail; Admiral Cole had only won because he had outnumbered the Covenant in space three-to-one … and even then, _two-thirds_ of his fleet had been destroyed or crippled in the battle.

Lovell himself however had served on the famous destroyer UNSC _Gorgon_ for four years, the _Gorgon_ wasan old ship, the first destroyer the UNSC had ever built to mount a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, capable of hurling a two-hundred ton Depleted Uranium slug to incredible velocity, to the point that when it hit, it hit _hard_ with the force of two thousand megatons of TNT. But the age of the _Gorgon_ really proved to be problematic here, for she only had around six shells for her singular MAC before all ammunition for it was expended. It had been quite a ride, he had been promoted to First Lieutenant before being busted down to Second Lieutenant and the later down to Ensign for insubordination and gross incompetence, the only reason he hadn't been drummed out of service completely was because the UNSC needed every single man and woman they could get their hands on.

But he had a good reason for being busted down to Ensign for gross incompetence and insubordination. While he had been serving on the _Gorgon_ , he and the rest of Battlegroup India had sped among the Outer Colonies chasing, and on occasion being chased by the Covenant. After four years of space duty, he had seen a dozen worlds glassed, simply reduced to a cinder … and billions murdered, he had simply broken under the incredible strain. He closed his eyes and remembered back to the day that had led to him getting busted to Ensign. No, he decided he hadn't broken, he was just scared of dying like everyone else was.

" _Please keep your eyes open."_ The computer told him, and he opened his eyes for the next part of the login process. _"Processing retinal scan."_ The computer announced and Lovell went back to remicising. After getting busted to Ensign, he had drifted first from office work to low priority assignments and finally landed here at _Archimedes_ Remote Sensing Outpost a year ago. By that time however, the situation was beyond grave, the Covenant had destroyed all of the Outer Colonies and were slowly, inexorably pushing inward destroying first the Middle Colonies and beginning to attack the Inner Colonies. There had been a few scattered and isolated victories here and there … but he knew as did the Joint Chiefs of Staff more than likely that it was only a matter of time before the genocidal aliens succeeded in wiping the human race out of existence.

" _Login complete."_ the computer announced, a moment later Ensign Lovell's identity record came up on the monitor. In his Academy picture, he looked a full decade younger: neatly trimmed jet-black hair, toothy grin, and sparkling green eyes. Today however, his hair was unkempt and the spark had entirely disappeared from his eyes long ago. He sighed as he wished that this damn war actually went _their way_ for a change.

" _Please read General Order 098831A-1 before proceeding."_ The computer told him. Lovell had long since memorized this stupid thing, but the computer would track his eye motions in order to make sure that he read it anyway. However considering what he had seen when he had been assigned to the _Gorgon_ , it was entirely understandable that the High Brass didn't want to take any chances. He opened the file and it popped up on-screen:

 **United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1  
Encryption Code:** Red  
 **Public Key:** file/ First light/  
 **From:** UNSC/NAVCOM Fleet H.T. Ward  
 **To:** ALL UNSC PERSONNEL  
 **Subject:** General Order 098831A-1 ("The Cole Protocol")  
 **Classification:** RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)

 _ **The Cole Protocol  
**_ To safeguard and protect the Inner Colonies and Earth, all UNSC vessels or stations must not be captured with intact navigation databases that may lead Covenant forces to human civilian population centers.  
If any Covenant forces are detected:  
1\. Activate selective purge of databases on all ship-based and planetary data networks.  
2\. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.  
3\. Execute viral data scavengers (Download from UNSCTTP:/EPWW:COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)  
4\. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.  
5\. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces and boarders, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.  
Violation of this directive will be considered an act of TREASON and pursuant to UNSC Military law articles JAG 845-P and JAG 7556-L, such violations are punishable by life imprisonment or execution.

/END FILE/

Press **ENTER** if you understand these orders.

Ensign Lovell pressed the ENTER key on his keyboard and the scanning windows appeared on the view screen, full of spectroscopic tracers and radar - and lots of noise.

Remote Sensing Outposts like the _Archimedes_ cycled three probes into and out of Slipstream Space. Each probe in order to survive the rigors of even their near instantaneous two-second journey had nearly seven centimeters of Titanium-C covering them. Each probe sent out radar pings and analyzed the spectrum from from radio to X-rays, then they re-entered normal space and broadcast the data that they had recorded back to the station.

However, the main problem with Slipstream Space was that the laws of physics never worked the way that they were supposed to work. Things such as exact positions, times, velocities, and even masses were impossible to measure with any real sort of accuracy. It wasn't that much of a problem with starships, although they could easily wind up on whims of Slipspace several half a billion kilometers away from where they were supposed to wind up. The probes suffered from the same problems, sometimes after their trip, they would appear in the exact same spot that they had left real space, other times they would somehow wind up three to five million kilometers distant, and other times and this was Lovell's favorite simply because it was the most baffling as to how it happened they wouldn't return _period_ , somehow being lost in the slipperiness of the dimension.

Thanks to this 'slipperiness' that Slipspace processed it made assignments such as this one a joke. Lovell was supposed to watch for pirates, black-market runners trying to sneak by, and finally and most importantly the Covenant. However, this station hadn't logged so much as even a single Covenant probe silhouette and thus that was the reason why he had specifically requested this dead-end assignment for the simple reason that it was safe.

The things that he did often see with regularity were trash dumps from UNSC, URF, or civilian ships, clouds of primordial Hydrogen, to even on occasion asteroids and comets that had somehow contrived to plow their way into the slipstream. He had also once logged a bit of an oddity, what he could only explain as something that appeared to be a Police Call Box or something of that nature, to the best of his knowledge not even UNSC Astrophysics hadn't figured out what it was.

Lovell yawned, kicked his feet up onto the control console, and closed his eyes. Thus he nearly fell out of his chair when the COM board contact alert pinged. "Oh no." Lovell whispered, fear and shame forming at the fact that he had let his guard down, that and his own cowardice. _Don't let it be the Covenant. Don't let it_ … _not_ here. He thought as he quickly activated the controls and traced the contact signal back to it's source - Alpha probe.

The probe had detected an incoming mass, it's trajectory had a slight arc that was being pulled by the gravity of Sigma Octanus. The contact was large however, so perhaps it was a mere cloud dust; which meant it would soon distort and scatter.

The COM board contact alert pinged again as Beta probe cycled back and caused the Ensign to sit up straighter in his chair. The mass was still there and just as solid as before, it was the largest reading in terms of mass that Lovell had ever seen: one hundred ninety million tons. Now there were some Covenant Warships that got that big or _bigger_ , there was simply no way in hell that it could be a Covenant Warship, it's shape was all wrong. The silhouette was a bumpy spherical shape and thus didn't match any known Covenant ships in the database. Which meant that it was more than likely a rogue asteroid, although it was a tremendous mother at that.

He tapped his stylus thoughtfully on his desk trying to figure out what his course of action should be. What if that contact wasn't a asteroid? He'd have to purge the database and enable the self-destruct mechanism for the outpost. But what the hell could the Covenant want way out here? The COM contact board pinged again as the Gamma probe cycled back and the mass reading were still unchanged, he glanced at the sensor board and muttered a curse, Gamma probe had somehow contrived to wind up five million kilometers from where it started. Great. His shift was off to a _fine_ start.

He looked at the spectroscopic analysis, it was inconclusive which was normal for probe readings at this distance. The mass was at the velocity it was currently traveling at roughly two hours out and the projected trajectory was a hyperbolic arc, a quick swing near the star and then the contact would be forever gone. One of the things he noted was that the trajectory of the rock brought it rather close to Sigma Octanus IV, which if that thing was in real space would be a major cause for alarm considering that he estimated that thing was likely half a mile wide maybe bigger, which meant that if the thing hit the planet, the word 'catastrophe' wouldn't even begin to explain the disaster that thing hitting the planet would be.

But, since the mass was in slipspace the stinking thing could literally pass right 'through' the planet and nobody would ever notice. Lovell relaxed and sent the retrieval drones after the three probes. By the time those drones would recover the probes however, the mass would be long gone.

Still he stared at the last image on screen. Was this worth sending an immediate report to Sigma Octanus IV CENTCOM? They'd make him send the probes out without a likely recovery which would likely result in the probes getting lost to slipspace. Which would mean that a supply ship would have to be sent out here to replace them. Plus the station would have to be inspected and recertified and he'd receive a _thorough_ lecture on what did and didn't constitute a valid emergency.

No he decided, there was no need to bother anyone over this. If anything the only ones who would be really interested at all were the high-forehead types at UNSC Astrophysics, and they could review the data at their leisure. With that in mind, he logged the anomaly and attached it to his hourly update. Then without a care in the world, the Ensign kicked his boots up and reclined, once again feeling perfectly safe in his little corner of the universe.

 **0300 Hours, July 17, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **UNSC DESTROYER** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

 **On routine patrol in the Sigma Octanus System**

Commander Jacob Keyes stood on the Bridge/CIC of the UNSC _Iroquois_. He leaned against the brass railing and surveyed the stars that were displayed on the large floor to ceiling holo panels of the bridge. Right now he was wishing that the circumstances of his current command was a bit more auspicious, but thanks largely due to the war, experienced officers were in short supply. And he had his orders.

As he walked around the circular bridge, examining the various monitors and displays that showed everything from engine status, to atmosphere levels, fuel reserves, and ammunition quantity. He paused as he looked at the large screens that were currently displaying the stars fore and aft; he couldn't quite get used to the incredible views of deep space again. The stars here were so vivid … and so different from the stars near Earth.

However the UNSC _Iroquois_ DD-906 was new; the lead ship in her class in fact and she represented a radical improvement and advancement in UNSC Warship design. She had rolled out of Reach Naval Shipyards only five months ago; in fact her Artificial Intelligence hadn't even been installed yet; like good officers the elaborate artificially intelligent computer systems were also in alarmingly short supply. She had the basic shape of a UNSC _Halberd_ class Destroyer, but she was far bigger, instead of the normal 485 meters for length, she was 610 meters long; her hull was armored with a new type of battleplate that was being tentatively called AEGIS Battleplate, named after goddess Athena's shield Aegis. Now the composition of AEGIS Battleplate was was a hyper-advanced sandwich of Titanium-C, the reversed engineered material Nanolaminate for which mass-production had recently been figured out, advanced ceramics, and Carbon nanotubes; the UNSC _Iroquois_ was armored with two solid meters of AEGIS Battleplate and she had the newest ECM suite that the Navy had packed into her, not only that but she was fast and armed to the teeth. The older _Halberd_ class Destroyers were good, but many critics had always said that the ship class was slow and unwieldy, but what those critics had forgotten was that the _Halberd_ class had been armed with two MAC guns, twenty-six Oversized Fusion Archer Missiles, three _Shiva_ class Thermonuclear Missiles, six 15cm Ognar Coilguns, and eight 50mm MLA Point-Defense Guns, and were protected by two meters of Titanium-C.

But the _Iroquois_ class? The _Iroquois_ and her sisters were designed with several things in mind, toughness, firepower, speed, and flexibility. They represented what hopefully the UNSC Fleet would become within four or five years give or take. The toughness aspect of the _Iroquois_ class was her AEGIS battleplate, the fact that like the newer _Talos_ class Destroyer Leaders, Flight II _Atlantis_ class Dreadnoughts, Flight IIIB _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruisers, her Bridge/CIC was buried with the ship's heavily armored hull, and her advanced ECM systems, flares and chaff dispensers, and emergency thrusters provided additional protection capabilities. Her firepower came from the dual MAC guns of a new design that could propel a 200-ton Depleted Uranium to a velocity where it slammed into it's target with roughly 3,500 megatons of TNT, thirty-two oversized Fusion Archer Missile Pods each one containing no less than _sixty_ missiles, six _Shiva_ class Thermonuclear Missiles, four dual-barreled 15cm rail gun secondary gun turrets on both the port and starboard side meaning she had sixteen secondary guns, with each gun capable of hurling a pair of 300-pound shells to slam into it's target with the force of 30 megatons of TNT, and to top it all off twelve brand-new Phalanx Point-defense Pulse Laser turrets. Her speed came from her five Deuterium-Helium-3 Fusion Reactors and the newest thing in Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Drives capable of traveling at 25 lightyears per day. Lastly her flexibility came from her ability to operate within atmosphere thanks to reverse engineered Covenant anti-gravity systems. In fact many critics were calling the _Iroquois_ class not Destroyers like they were classified but instead Pocket Cruisers and were wondering what the next generation of UNSC Cruisers, Battleships, Carriers, and Frigates would have to offer.

Still this meant that unlike the _Meriwether Lewis_ and _Midsummer Night_ , both of which were frigates that he had previously served on, this ship was a destroyer and unlike the _Halberd_ class, she weighed nearly quadruple the amount that both of the vessels he had previously served on _combined_ thanks to her greater length, heavy armor, and heavy armament.

The _Iroquois_ had a unique look to her as well. Sure she maintained the basic shape of the _Halberd_ class, but due to her armor composition, the glossy smooth matte black that the _Halberd_ class was usually painted in, came out as sort of a silvery-black coloring. In retrospect, Keyes couldn't have asked for a finer ship and someone else appeared to agree as well. For along with her standard black paint job, two stripes of crimson war paint adorned the port and starboard flanks of the _Iroquois_ , it was strictly non-regulation and would have to go ... but secretly Commander Keyes liked the ornamentation.

He sat down in Commander's chair or as some people called it the Chair or the Hot Seat and watched his junior officers at their stations and he listened to the quiet thrum of the powerful reactors, the beeps, chirps, and whistles from the various bridge stations, to the quiet imprescriptible whir of the air pumps as they circulated the air inside the _Iroquois_.

"Incoming transmissions," Lieutenant Dominique reported. "Status reports from Sigma Octanus IV CENTCOM and the _Archimedes_ Sensor Outpost."

"Pipe them through to my monitor, Lieutenant." Commander Keyes said.

"Yessir!" Dominique replied.

Dominique had been one of his students at the Academy, he had transferred from Université de' Astrophysique located in Paris on Earth to Luna after his sister was killed in action in a battle against the Covenant. The man was short, nimbly, athletic, and he rarely cracked a smile - he was always business which Keyes appreciated.

But, Commander Keyes was less impressed however, with the rest of his bridge officers. Not that he really had anyone to blame, with how long and how badly the war had been going. Good bridge officers were bound to be in short supply.

Lieutenant Hikowa manned the weapons console. Her long fingers and slender arms slowly checked the status of all the powerful ordinance that the _Iroquois_ was armed with, with all the deliberation of a sleepwalker. Her dark hair was always falling into her eyes as well. But, oddly enough her record showed that she'd survived several encounters with the Covenant … so that was likely the explanation for her lack of enthusiasm, it was merely battle fatigue.

Lieutenant Hall stood posted at ops. She seemed competent enough for various reasons, but she wasn't without her flaws. Her uniform was always freshly pressed, her blond hair was always trimmed _exactly_ at the regulation length of sixteen centimeters. Plus she'd authored seven physics papers on slipspace communications. But the biggest and to be frank only problem that she had was the fact that she was always smiling, over enthusiastic, and always trying to impress him … occasionally by showing up her fellow officers. Keyes genuinely disapproved of such displays of ambition, mainly because he had been bitten by people who were overly ambitious, over eager, and who also wasn't that great at mathematics.

But compared to Lt. Hall, Lt. Hikowa, and Lt. Dominique, which while they had their problems they were manageable, at least when compared to Lieutenant Jaggers who manned navigation. It may have been that Commander Keyes's strong suit was navigation, so anyone else who served in that position would never seem to be up to par. However, on the flip side of the coin, Lieutenant Jaggers was moody, the man's small hazel eyes seemed glazed over. Once Keyes could have sworn that he had caught Jaggers on duty with liquor on his breath too. He had ordered a blood test and the results had come back negative.

"Orders, sir?" Jaggers asked, looking over his shoulder at the Commander.

"Continue on this heading, Lieutenant. We're going to finish our patrol around Sigma Octanus and then accelerate and then enter slipstream space."

"Aye aye sir!"

Keyes detached the small monitor from the armrest and opened the hourly report from the _Archimedes_ Sensor Outpost. The log of the large mass was curious and considering that it's mass was hefty and within reason for some of the largest Covenant Capital Ships, were it not for it's funky shape. But, despite that fact, there was something that was oddly, unexplainably familiar about it's shape. However the Commander couldn't exactly put his finger on it.

He retrieved his pipe from his jacket, lit it, inhaled a puff, and exhaled the fragrant smoke from the Sweet William Tobacco through his nose. Keyes would have never even considered smoking on the other vessels he had served on, but here … well, command has it's privileges.

Still stumped on why the silhouette of the large mass that _Archimedes_ had detected. Keyes's opened his files transferred from the Academy - several theoretical papers that had recently caught his interest. He thought that one of them might apply to this unusual reading that the outpost had picked up.

However, the reason that the paper had initially sparked his interest was for another reason entirely. It's author, he had never forgotten his first assignment with Dr. Catherine Halsey … nor the names of any of the children they'd observed for the S-II project: John, Fhajad, Kelly, Cal.

Shaking those thoughts off, he opened up the file and read:

 **United Nations Space Command Astrophysics Journal 034-23-01  
Date:** May 09, 2540 (Military Calendar)  
 **Encryption Code:** None  
 **Public Key:** NA  
 **Author(s):** Lieutenant Commander Fhajad-084 (Service number [CLASSIFIED]), UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence.  
 **Subject:** Dimensional-Mass Space Compressions in Shaw-Fujikawa (a.k.a. "Slipstream") Space.  
 **Classification:** NA

/start file/

Abstract: The space-bending properties of mass in normal space are well described by Einstein's general relativity. Such distortions, however, are complicated by the anomalous quantum gravitational effects in Shaw-Fujikawa (SF) spaces. Using loop-string analysis, it can be shown that a large mass bends space in SF space more than general relativity predicts by an order of magnitude. This bending may explain how several small objects clustered closely together in SF space have been reported erroneously as a single larger mass.

Press **ENTER** to continue.

Commander Keyes switched back from the report to the silhouette from the _Archimedes_ report. The leading edge of the thing almost looked like the bulbous head of a whale. That realization chilled him to the core. _Well, our day just got interesting._ He thought as he opened up the UNSC database of all known Covenant ships. He scanned and then going through the various silhouettes until he found the three-dimensional representation of one of their medium-tonnage warships, to be specific the Covenant Frigate, he rotated it into the three quarters profile and then overlaid the image of it onto the silhouette that _Archimedes_ had detected, scaled it back a little.

It was a perfect match. _Well our day just went from interesting to_ very thought as he barked orders. "Lieutenant Dominique, get FLEETCOM ASAP, Priority Alpha!"

The Lieutenant snapped straight to his chair as if he'd been shocked. "Yes sir!"

The bridge officers looked at the Commander and then exchanged glances with each over obviously wondering the exact same thing 'what the hell is going on?'. Meanwhile Commander Keyes brought up a map of the Sigma Octanus system on his datapad and added an overlay containing the projected trajectory of the silhouette that _Archimedes_ had monitored. It was on a direct course for Sigma Octanus IV, that confirmed his theory.

"Bring us about to course zero four seven, Lieutenant Jaggers. Lieutenant Hall push our reactors to one hundred ten percent."

"Aye Commander." Lieutenant Jaggers replied.

The reactor noise increased as power output for the reactors went from a mere eighty percent to one hundred ten percent of rated output. "Reactors are running hot, sir." Hall reported. "Now exceeding recommended operational parameters."

"ETA?"

Jaggers ran some calculations and then looked up. "Forty minutes, sir." he replied and the man was right, the only thing that could out run the _Iroquois_ was only light frigates and corvettes.

But in this case, it wasn't good enough. "Too slow," Keyes muttered. "Reactor to one hundred thirty percent, Lieutenant Hall."

She hesitated and rightfully so, the higher a reactor output was above one hundred percent, the hotter the reactor ran and the quicker the coolant broke down which in turn meant the quicker that the reactor could melt down. "Sir?"

"Do it!"

"Yes sir!" She moved with the speed as if someone had electrically shocked her. Moments later the rumble of the reactor increased considerably and the speed of the _Iroquois_ went up some more.

"FLEETCOM online, sir." Lieutenant Dominique said.

The weathered face of Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth appeared on the main view screen. This caused Commander Keyes to breath a sigh of relief, this was because Vice Admiral Stanforth had a reputation for being both reasonable and intelligent. He'd easily be able to understand the logic of the situation at hand.

" _Commander Keyes,"_ the Vice Admiral said. _"The old 'School-master' himself, huh? This is the priority channel, son. This better be an emergency."_

Keyes ignored the obvious condescending jab. He knew for a fact that many at FLEETCOM thought he deserved to command nothing but a classroom - and that it was more than likely that some in the service probably believed he didn't even deserve that.

So, in light of that. He got straight to the point. "The Sigma Octanus System is about to come under attack, sir."

Vice Admiral Stanforth cocked an eyebrow and leaned closer to the screen. "I'm requesting that all ships in-system rendezvous with the _Iroquois_ at Sigma Octanus IV and that any ships in neighboring systems make best speed here." Keyes said.

" _Show me what you've got, Keyes."_ the Vice Admiral said.

Commander Keyes first displayed the silhouette from Remote Sensing Outpost _Archimedes_ first. "Covenant ships, sir. Their silhouettes are overlapped and our probes resolved them as one mass because Slipspace is more easily bent by gravity than normal space." Keyes explained, taking the three dimensional representation of the Covenant Frigate and overlaying it on the part of the mass silhouette that had the bulbous shape of a whale's head.

As Keyes explained his analysis, the Vice Admiral frowned, but concern was evident on his face. "You've fought the Covenant, sir. You how precisely the aliens can maneuver their ships through the slipstream. I've seen a dozen alien craft transition from slipspace into normal space in absolutely perfect formation, not a kilometer apart." Keyes said.

" _Yeah,"_ the Vice Admiral muttered. _"I've seen that too. All right, Keyes, good work. You'll get everything we can send."_

"Thank you sir."

" _You just hang in there, son. Good luck, FLEETCOM out."_

The viewscreen snapped off and the image from the fore cameras came into existence in it's place.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Hall turned around. For once she wasn't smiling, in it's place concern was written all over her face. "How many Covenant ships?"

Keyes had a rough estimate of what to expect. "I'd estimate five maybe even six or seven medium-tonnage vessels," he said. "The equivalent of our frigates." The _Iroquois_ while it was literally one of the newest things in the fleet in terms of ships; a Covenant Frigate was nothing to sneeze at. The things were exactly one kilometer in length, had shields that while it couldn't stop a MAC round, it could stop a three-hundred fifty megaton Nuke from close range but it would down the shields, of course it's hull couldn't hope to stop a MAC round, it could take quite a few Fusion Archer Missiles before it's structural integrity failed. For armament they tended to mount three plasma turrets along their lateral lines, four bow mounted Antimatter Missile Tubes, three bow mounted particle cannons and two dual particle cannon mounts on their lateral lines, and an array of Pulse Laser Turrets. If he was in a _Halberd_ class, all he would be able to do was try and fight a running defensive action until help could arrive. But the _Iroquois_ was brand new and had new armor and several improvements to her weapons, but even then he didn't know what his options were.

" _Five_ Covenant ships? Possibly even _six or seven_?" Lieutenant Jaggers muttered in horror. "What can _we_ do?"

"Do?" Commander Keyes asked, shocked at what Jaggers had just said. "Our duty."

"Begging the Commander's pardon, but there are at _least five_ Cov-" Jaggers began to protest. However Keyes wasn't going to have any of it and cut him off with a stern glare. "Stow that, mister." He paused and weighed his next words. "Sigma Octanus Four has seventeen million citizens, Lieutenant. Are you _suggesting_ that we just stand by and watch the Covenant glass the planet and slaughter those seventeen million people?"

"No sir." Jaggers gaze dropped to the deck.

"We will do the the best we can." Commander Keyes said. "In the meantime, battle stations! Bring the ship to Combat Alert Alpha! Remove all weapons system locks, warm up our MAC guns, bring the missile crews to readiness, and the remove the safeties from one of our nukes." Keyes ordered.

"Yes sir!" Hikowa and Hall said. Hall then engaged the General Quarters alarm, a sound that had been used since the 21st century, an electric sounding _GONG! GONG! GONG!_ Rang through the hull of the _Iroquois_ at the sametime Hall opened the ship-wide comm. "General Quarters, General Quarters! All hands man your battlestations, set traffic up and forward on starboard side, down and aft on the port side! Set material condition Zulu throughout the ship! Prepare for contact with enemy forces!"

Hatches began to slam shut, the sound of people running through the halls, up ladders, etc. resounded through the ship. Emergency EVA kits were handed out -UNSC Navy Uniforms had the ability to operate as a makeshift EVA suit for about thirty minutes- within less than two minutes, the UNSC _Iroquois_ and her crew of 2,758 Officers and Men plus her Marine compliment was ready to go to war.

That's when an alarm sounded an Ops. "Reactor hysteresis approaching failure levels, the superconducting magnets are overloading, and coolant breakdown is imminent." Lieutenant Hall report crisply.

"Vent primary coolant and pump in the reserve tanks," Commander Keyes ordered. "That will buy us another five minutes." Problem was Keyes knew that after just three of those minutes he would be have to cut reactor output to at least one hundred percent in order to avoid begin doing damage to the reactor.

"Yes sir." Hall said and the pitch of the reactor changed subtly.

Commander Keyes fumbled with his pipe, he didn't bother lighting the thing this time around and just chewed on it's tip for a moment before putting it away. The nervous habit wasn't setting the right example for his bridge crew. Plus he didn't have the luxury of showing his apprehension.

However, himself just like Lieutenant Jaggers and likely everyone else on the bridge was in fact, absolutely terrified and worried; mainly because well five Covenant ships were a match for _eight_ UNSC destroyers and of course this was the _Iroquois_ class first ever debut in combat. Thus, the best he could hope for was to grab their attention, run like hell away from them, and hopefully distract them long enough until the fleet arrived.

Of course … the biggest problem that plan had was the fact that despite the _Iroquois_ being newest thing in the Navy and quite possibly the fastest in the UNSC Navy. Those Covenant ships could likely chase down the _Iroquois_ rather easily.

"Lieutenant Jaggers," he said, "initiate the Cole Protocol. Purge our navigation databases and then generate an appropriate randomized exit vector from the Sigma Octanus System."

"Yes sir." He fumbled with his controls. He hung his head, took a deep breath, steadied his hands, and then typed in the needed commands.

"Lieutenant Hall: make preparations to override reactor safeties."

That order caused all of his junior officers to pause for a second, this was because when the reactor safeties were overridden, it usually meant that the reactors were being primed for self-destruct. "Aye, sir." Lieutenant Hall whispered.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the system's edge," Lieutenant Dominique announced. "Frigates _Allegiance_ and _Gettysburg_ are on an inbound vector from the system's edge at maximum speed. ETA … one hour. Message reads "Hold tight _Iroquois_ we're coming as fast as we can."."

"Good." Commander Keyes said. The Frigates UNSC _Allegiance_ and UNSC _Gettysburg_ were a _Stalwart_ class Light Frigate and a _Paris_ class Heavy Frigate respectively. They were decently armed and would provide a substantial firepower boost. But the problem was, that one hour might as well be a month, this battle could be over in minutes.

He went over his options again, he couldn't face the enemy in a straight up fight, he was severely outgunned and the armor plating wasn't combat tested yet, so he had no idea how it would hold up against Covenant Plasma Torpedoes, although according to the simulations it looked like it would hold, but the real test for combat armor was combat. He couldn't outrun the enemy either. But their still had to be another option. When he had been teaching, he had always taught this one fact, when you were out of options, then you were using the wrong tactics? You had to bend the rules. Shift perspective - anything to find a way out of a hopeless situation. This was what he had called "Taking the third option."

The space near Sigma Octanus began to boil and froth, with motes of green and purple light spreading across the inky black void like a bruise. Slipspace ruptures. "Ships entering normal space!" Lieutenant Jaggers announced, sounding absolutely panicked and a few moments later, what felt like a terrified rumbled from the _Iroquois_ herself traveled through the bridge plating.

Keyes practically leaped out of his chair and to his feet in shock.

He'd been wrong, drastically so. There wasn't five to seven Covenant Frigates. Instead he was staring right in the teeth of a pair of enemy Frigates escorting … a _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyer, a twelve hundred meter long Covenant Cruiser, and a _DDS_ class Carrier.

His blood ran cold, Keyes had to restrain himself from chewing his lips and a gulp of fear. He had seen battles were Covenant _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyers had turned even the heaviest of UNSC warships into Swiss cheese with it's plasma torpedoes. Weapons which could burn through Titanium-C within a matter of seconds, would the AEGIS battleplate be able hold up to that kind of firepower?

Not only that, the _CPV_ class mounted six forward Antimatter Missile tubes, plus two clusters of four more tubes on both the port and starboard side, three dual Heavy Particle Cannon mounts on the bow, and six single heavy particle cannon mounts mounted along each of the ship's lateral lines, in addition to that it had a number of plasma turrets the launching point of it's lethal plasma torpedoes, one on the bow, and two on the port and starboard side, an array of Pulse Lasers, oh and they had a ventral energy projector.

The Covenant Cruiser was a different beast entirely in terms of armament. It was armed with no less than eight plasma turrets with four on it's port and starboard lateral lines, plus it had four bow mounted Heavy Antimatter Missile Tubes, two quintuple clusters of Antimatter missile tubes mounted on both the port and starboard side, three dual Heavy Particle Cannons mounted on its bow, plus six dual Heavy Particle Cannons mounted on both the port and starboard side, an array of Pulse Laser turrets, a ventrally mounted Energy Projector, and it could field an Aerospace wing composed of thirty _Seraph_ fighters and ten _Moroi_ class Bombers.

But the most lethal of the ships out their was the _DDS_ class Carrier, it was vaguely shaped like a Covenant _RPV_ class light destroyer, but it had three bulbous sections swollen midsection, with thirteen launch bays. It usually had an Aerospace Wing composed of seventy _Seraph_ class Fighters and fifty _Moroi_ class Bombers, plus some two hundred Space Banshee, and a lot of dropships. Plus it was the most heavily armed of the bunch, with twelve Plasma Turrets with five of said turrets mounted on the Port and Starboard Lateral Lines and two mounted on the bow, in clusters of five no less than twenty Heavy Antimatter Missile Tubes with ten on the portside and ten on the starboard side, seven Dual Heavy Particle Cannon turrets mounted laterally on the port and starboard side, an array of pulse lasers, and two Energy Projectors one on the Dorsal side and one on the ventral side.

To say that the _Iroquois_ was the wrong end of too much firepower was an absolutely epic understatement. The weapons that those Covenant Warships possessed were literal lightyears ahead of what the _Iroquois_ was armed with. They could probably effortlessly if they wanted to tear the _Iroquois_ apart within seconds. "Their weapons." Commander Keyes muttered under his breath, yes … he _did_ have a third option. That is if you could consider the hair-brained crazy ass stunt that was starting to come together in his mind really the third option.

"Continue at emergency speed," he ordered, "and come about to heading zero three two."

Lieutenant Jaggers swiveled in his seat. His eyes as big saucers. "That will put us on a collision course with the enemy destroyer, sir."

"I know," Commander Keyes replied. "In fact, I'm planning on doing just that."

Lieutenant Jaggers's eyes bugged in shock as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. But, regardless he had tapped in the commands, with a briefest feeling of movement the _Iroquois_ turned onto her new heading and began to burn hard toward the _CPV_ class Destroyer.

Commander Keyes stood up with his hands behind his back and tried to look calm. This wasn't exactly an easy thing to do when the ship you were commanding was charging straight into the teeth of a group of enemy warships that packed _immense firepower_. Inside however his adrenaline raced through his blood and his pulse hammered in his chest like an assault weapon.

But he had to at least _appear_ to be in control of the situation for the sake of his crew. Simply because he was asking an awful lot from his crew … probably _everything_ in fact. To say that he was nervous was an understatement, if he screwed this up, well he would likely get not only himself but his entire crew killed.

His junior officers watched their status monitors with eagle-eyed sharpness but they occasionally glanced nervously toward him, but their gazes always drifted back toward the center view screen.

From the range they were at the Covenant ships looked like toys, but it was _dangerous_ and _foolish_ to think of them as harmless. Mainly because one slip, one underestimation of their tremendous firepower and the _Iroquois_ would be destroyed. Of course, if they launched missiles, fighters, or bombers at the _Iroquois_ would be in a lot of trouble, for simple reason that she didn't have her AI installed yet and thus was rather helpless in the point-defense department.

The Alien warships were all bigger than the _Iroquois_ by a substantial amount and they bristled with weapon emplacements and antenna. To Keyes's immense surprise however, the Covenant Heavy Destroyer, Cruiser, and Carrier all drifted lazily in-system toward Sigma Octanus IV.

Were the Covenant seriously going to ignore him? Glass the planet without even bothering to swat him out of the way first? At first it did raise some questions, but that's when he noticed that the two frigates were lagging behind the Cruiser, the Destroyer, and Carrier. Together the two alien warships turned in unison to present their broadsides toward the _Iroquois_. Motes of red light appeared and swarmed toward the lateral lines of the two frigates, quickly becoming a streak of hellish red illumination that looked awfully similar to the stripes of crimson war paint that adorned the flanks of the _Iroquois_.

"Detecting high levels of beta particle radiation." Lieutenant Dominique reported. "They're getting ready to fire their plasma weapons, estimate one shot from each frigate, Commander."

"Course correction, sir?" Jaggers asked, beginning to tap in commands for a new course, heading out-system. Which under normal circumstances would be entirely justified, _but_ this system was home to seventeen million people. So it was rather _unacceptable_.

"Negative, hold this course." It took all of Commander Keyes's willpower in order to say that in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lieutenant Jaggers turned and began to say something about how what they were doing was absolutely suicidal. But Commander Keyes didn't have time to answer for he had other far more pressing concerns. "Lieutenant Hikowa," Commander Keyes said. "Arm a _Shiva_ missile. Remove all nuclear launch safety locks."

The process of arming the nuke only took a moment. " _Shiva_ armed. Aye, commander." Lieutenant Hikowa's face had become a mask of rock hard, grim determination. Her tiredness had completely left her system and now she had a game face on.

"Set the fuse on radio transmission code sequence detonation only. Disable proximity fuse. Stand by for a launch pilot program." Keyes ordered.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Hikowa looked confused at first by his order, but then shook said confusion off and said. "Sir! Yes, sir. Making it happen."

The alien frigates in the meanwhile had gone from looking like toys to looking _very real_ and _very deadly_ plus they were growing larger by every second. The red glow that adorned there sides had turned into solid red bands and had become … almost too bright to look directly at.

Commander Keyes picked up his datapad, and began to crunch some very important calculations: velocity, mass, and heading. It made him wish that the _Iroquois_ had her Artificial Intelligence, hell he'd even settle for a 'dumb' AI, if only so he had a way to double check the results of his equation. Which meant that this literally resulted to little more than an _educated guess_. How long would it take for the _Iroquois_ to orbit Sigma Octanus IV? He got a number and cut it by sixty percent, knowing that they'd either pick up speed … or would be dead by the time it mattered.

"Lieutenant Hikowa, set the _Shiva_ 's course for mark one eight zero. Full burn for twelve seconds." He ordered.

"Aye sir," she said and tapped in the parameters for the course that the missile was going to follow and then locked them into the system. "Missile ready, sir."

"Sir!" Lieutenant Jaggers said suddenly, swiveling around and standing up. His lips drawn into a tight line. Concern was plastered all over his face. "That course fires the missile directly _away_ from our enemies!"

"I am aware of that Lieutenant Jaggers and would love to be able to explain the physics behind it, but we don't have time. Now sit down and await further orders." Keyes said firmly.

Lieutenant Jaggers sat down heavily into his chair, he rubbed his temple with a shaking hand while his other was balled into a fist but it too was also shaking.

Commander Keyes linked to the NAV system and set a countdown timer on his datapad. Twenty-nine seconds, if this crazy stunt was going to work, they needed to launch the nuke in exactly twenty-nine seconds. "On my mark, Lieutenant Hikowa, launch that nuke … and not a moment before."

"Aye aye sir." she replied, her slender hand hovering over the launch control on her control panel. "MAC Guns are still hot, Commander." she reminded him.

"Divert half the power that are keeping the capacitors at full charge and route it to the engine's." Keyes ordered. _That should help close the distance a little faster._ Keyes thought.

Lieutenant Hall said, "Diverting now sir." she then shared a glance with Hikowa before speaking again. "Engines are now running at one hundred fifty percent of rated output, red line in two and half minutes." She said. _Alright, damn this is going to be hard to preserve the engines. We may need them if that Cruiser or god forbid that Carrier takes interest in our lives._ Keyes thought grimly as the thrum of the reactors increased even more.

"Contact! Contact!" Lieutenant Dominique suddenly shouted from her station. "Enemy plasma torpedoes away, sir!"

Scarlet lightning erupted from the flanks the alien frigates, each bolt a concentrated magnetically held bubble of boiling plasma with ability to tear through Titanium-C Battleplate like tissue paper. The three bolts of fire that shot forth, wait three? _Aw crap, this complicates matters slightly._ Keyes thought as he realized one of the frigates had instead of launching a single plasma torpedo had actually launched two. Still the bolts of plasma looked as if they could burn through the black of space itself and into some parallel dimension. The torpedoes were all on a direct course for the _Iroquois_.

"Course correction, sir?" Lieutenant Jaggers' voice broke with strain. His uniform was thoroughly soaked with perspiration.

"Negative," Commander Keyes replied. "Continue on this heading. Arm all aft Archer Missile Pods. Rotate launch arcs one eight zero degrees."

"Aye sir." Lieutenant Hikowa wrinkled her brow and then unwrinkled it and then slowly nodded, realization dawning in her eyes and she slowly mouthed "... yes, absolutely brilliant."

Angry, boiling red plasma now filled half of the forward view screen. In a strange yet beautiful to watch in an odd way - as if one had a front-row seat at a forest fire, deadly? Yes. Beautiful to watch however? Yes as well.

It was now that Keyes actually found himself strangely calm. His crazy strategy would either work or it would not, there was no middle ground. Plasma was like that. The odds were long, but he was confident that his actions was were the only option to survive this encounter.

Lieutenant Dominique turned in her seat. "Collision with the plasma in nineteen seconds, sir."

That seemed to make Jaggers break, he turned from his station. "Sir! This is suicide! Our armor can't withstand -"

Keyes cut him off sharply. "Mister, man your station or I will have you removed from the bridge."

Jaggers looked pleadingly at Hikowa. "We're going to _die_ , Aki -"

However, Hikowa refused to meet his gaze and turned back to her controls. "You heard the Commander," she said quietly but firmly. "Man your post." and the conn officer sank into his seat, with a look that just screamed 'We're all going to die!' plastered on his face.

"Collision with the plasma in seven seconds." Lieutenant Hall announced, while she bit her lower lip.

"Lieutenant Jaggers, transfer emergency thruster controls to my station. Lt. Hall, prepare to vent compartments on my command." Keyes ordered.

"Yes … yes, sir." Jaggers said.

UNSC emergency thrusters were an old type of technology that were still used because while it was old it worked well. They were quite literally tanks of trihydride tetrazine and hydrogen peroxide. When the two compounds were mixed together they did so with explosive force, which was then directed out of a thruster nozzle literally blasting the ship onto a new course. The _Iroquois_ had eight such tanks with four on the port side and four on the starboard side. They were specifically to help move the ship when fired.

Commander Keyes consulted his datapad and noted three seconds, the moment it hit zero he barked out orders. "Lieutenant Hikowa fire the nuke." He said and Hikowa punched the ENTER command to fire the _Shiva_. On the outer hull of the _Iroquois_ , a silo which had been opened suddenly spewed fire and rising majestically from the hull came a missile that was twenty-five meters long in length, with minute adjustments from its thrust-vectoring nozzle, the missile pointed itself on bearing one eight zero and poured on the speed in an effort to try and overcome it's tremendous forward velocity. " _Shiva_ away sir! On course one eight zero maximum burn!" Hikowa announced.

The plasma now filled the viewscreen, the edges turning green and yellow with the center blue-shifting. "Distance three hundred thousand kilometers, impact in two seconds!" Lieutenant Dominique announced.

Commander Keyes hit the activation control for the emergency thrusters and found out the hard way why the regulations of state that when the emergency thrusters are fired the entire crew must brace themselves or strapped into a crash couch were in place. With a resounding _bang_ resounded through the ship's hull and Commander Keyes flew sideways and impacted a bulkhead and crumpled to the deck. _Right and that must be the reason why we have those regulations on either being seated in a crash couch with crash webbing on or hanging onto something when the emergency thrusters are fired._ Keyes thought as he scrambled to his feet and the CIC warmed considerably, the view screen was filled with fire, and reverberating shudder ran through the ship's hull.

Commander Keyes counted the beats of his hammering heart one, two, three - had they been hit by the plasma there'd be dead already, he glanced up and noticed only one view screen was working now. He also noted that despite the fact that they must have been hit he didn't feel the reverberating thumps of explosive decompression. "Aft cameras and get me a damage report!" He barked.

The one working view screen shifted to the aft camera. "Sir! The armor! It held! We took a plasma torpedo on the nose and it failed to penetrate! Armor thickness is heavily reduced, down to ten centimeters! MAC system intact, thank god they recessed the barrels!" Lieutenant Hall announced with seemingly giggling -and to be frank well deserved- glee. _Well, hot damn this new AEGIS battleplate is tough stuff. If the_ Iroquois _can take a single plasma torpedo before having her armor fail, well this is going to be a massive boon._ Keyes thought. Mainly because the _Iroquois_ had just done what no UNSC ship had done before: taken a hit from a plasma torpedo and didn't suffer a hull breach.

The aft cameras showed the two bolts of plasma that had missed the _Iroquois_ were lazily looping around to pursue the UNSC warship. One of the lethal bolts pulled slightly ahead of it's counterpart giving the twin bolts of fire the appearance of two blazing eyes. Commander Keyes marveled at the immense ability the aliens' had to direct that plasma from such a great range. "Good," he murmured to himself. "Chase us all the way to hell you bastards."

"Track those plasma bolts." He ordered Lieutenant Hall.

"Aye sir." she said, her normally perfectly groomed hair was now tousled. "Plasma increasing velocity, it's matching our speed … overtaking our velocity now. They will intercept us in fifty-seconds."

"Forward camera." Commander Keyes ordered, and the perspective that the view screen displayed changed and now displayed the Alien Frigates, blue and purple light flickered along the alien hulls. Pulse lasers and Particle Cannons charging, weapons that, given the heavily weakened state of the _Iroquois_ 's bow armor, would have no trouble slicing through it and thus opening compartments to space. Although, Titanium-C could take one heck of a pounding from Pulse Lasers before failing. But Particle Cannons? They would slice right through the armor like paper. Of course, he had no idea how the AEGIS battleplate would hold-up.

Commander Keyes pulled back the camera angle and saw that the _DDS_ class, the Cruiser, and the _CPV_ class were still moving in system. _Now, time to spring the surprise on the Covies._ He thought as he read their positions off his datapad and then performed the necessary calculations.

"Course correction," he told Lieutenant Jaggers. "Bring us about to heading zero-zero-four-point-two-five, mark zero-zero-zero-point-one-eight." he ordered.

"Aye sir." Jaggers said. "Making my course zero-zero-four-point-two-five, mark zero-zero-zero-point-one-eight." He announced as with a rumble of thrusters the _Iroquois_ changed direction and began to hurtle toward the Covenant Destroyer. Which promptly opened fire, particle beams and pulse lasers streaked forth and created a virtual maelstrom of energy that the human warship barreled through, with the shots getting closer and closer to the _Iroquois_ 's hull. "Collision course! Impact with the Covenant Destroyer in eight seconds!" Hall announced as the enemy destroyer appeared in the view screen.

"Standby for new course correction: mark minus zero-zero-zero-point-one-zero." Keyes ordered and knew that he had to be absolutely perfect in timing this for two reasons. The first reason was because the _Iroquois_ had like other UNSC Destroyers a flat-belly. Currently they were approaching that Destroyer a slight angle. If they were to hit that thing even at this slight angle, the resulting kinetic force would simply resulting in the _Iroquois_ being literally _ripped in half_ , granted the Covie destroyer probably would not come off any better.

Jaggers typed in the new course change, wiped the sweat from his eyes and double-checked his numbers, satisfied with his work had his hand hovered over the **EXECUTE** key. "Course correction ready, sir! Awaiting orders!" He announced his voice shaky.

"Collision course with the enemy destroyer in five seconds!" Hall said as she clutched the edge of her seat. He face white with determination. The enemy destroyer grew in the view screen: pulse laser and particle cannon turrets, antimatter missile tubes, plasma turrets, launch bays, bulbous alien protrusions, and flickering blue lights becoming more and more discernible with each passing moment.

"Hold this course, sound collision alarm. Switch to undercarriage camera now." Keyes ordered sharply. A new alarm blared, a deep and sharp continuous beeping. Hikowa and Hall managed to strap themselves in while Keyes and Jaggers braced themselves.

The view screen snapped off and showed the inky blackness of space from the _Iroquois_ 's belly camera. Suddenly a flash of faint purple-blue hull of the _CPV_ class appeared. The _Iroquois_ screeched and shuddered in protest as several million tons of UNSC Destroyer grazed the prow of the enemy destroyer. The hexagonal silver shields flared into existence on-screen and then suddenly the screen filled with static.

"Course correction now!" Keyes shouted as the moment came.

Jaggers replied instantly "Aye sir!" Then with a subtle burn from the _Iroquois_ 's thrusters, the UNSC warship nudged down slightly coming onto a perfectly even keel. "Hull breach!" Hall shouted as the muffled thumps of explosive decompressions rumbled through the ship. "Sealing pressure doors."

"Aft Camera," Keyes said. "Guns: fire _all_ aft Archer Missile Pods!"

"Shit, misfire on three missile pods, remaining missiles away!" Hikowa announced.

Despite the fact that three Archer Missile Pods failed to launch their missiles, likely because of the ramming doing something to them. The remaining ones launched their sixty Fusion Archer Missiles. Hundreds of vapor trails leaped away from the _Iroquois_ , each missile packed a lethal five-megaton shaped charge. There was enough missiles in that salvo to completely _gut_ a _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser. As Keyes watched, the first of the trailing plasma bolts slammed into the enemy DD, the shields flared brilliantly and held for just a few seconds before evaporating, the remaining plasma from the first torpedo burned through a good sized section of hull armor but failed to penetrate the armor, then the second torpedo impacted in the same area a moment later.

The ship burned, the plasma torpedo burned through the hull armor of the _CPV_ class with effortless ease. Entire sections of ship turned red-hot and began melting, globs of molten alien material literally detached from the ship and formed perfect spheres in the vacuum. Alien plate boiled away under the intense heat, secondary explosions from ignited atmosphere tore through the hull. It's crew reeling, the alien warship was utterly helpless when hundreds of Fusion Archer Missiles tore into the ship. Each Archer detonated with five-megatons of explosive force that was formed into a lethal stream of plasma that acted like a gigantic HEAT round. Numerous detonations ripped the alien ship apart, atmosphere ignited and explosions chained up and down the length of the ship, a titanic explosion suddenly ripped the alien warship clean in two and severely buffeted the _Iroquois_ as a magazine for the antimatter missiles went up, seconds later the pinched plasma reactor went critical and turned the aft half of the ship into a star, complete with it's own system of co-orbiting debris. The shockwave again buffeted the _Iroquois_.

Keyes allowed himself to smile as he watched the remains of the _CPV_ class, utterly helpless as it was now without engines or power get snarled by Sigma Octanus IV's gravity well. The Covenant ship was doomed to plunge into atmosphere and burn up in the planet's atmosphere.

"All hands brace for emergency thruster maneuver." Keyes said over the ship-wide intercom. He then fired the starboard emergency thrusters, explosive force detonated on the starboard side of the ship. Keyes who had braced this time still staggered as the ship nosed toward Sigma Octanus IV.

"Course correction, Lieutenant Jaggers." He said. "Bring us into a tight orbit."

"Aye sir." Jaggers said as he began to furiously type in commands, diverting engine output from the main horizontal propulsion thrusters to the altitude thrusters. The hull of the _Iroquois_ began to glow red as she entered atmosphere, aerobraking, or in other words, grazing the atmosphere of a planet in order to slow down. A cloud of yellow ionization built up around the view screen.

Commander Keyes gripped the handrail tighter and then the view-screen cleared and he could see the stars as the _Iroquois_ looped past the day-night boundary into the dark side of the planet. He slumped forward and started breathing again, to say that had been hair-raising was an understatement.

"Sir, the engine coolant is on the verge of failure. We need to bring the reactors down to thirty percent _now_ , or the coolant is going to fail completely." she said.

"Make it so." Keyes ordered and the _Iroquois_ quieted down instantly. Her reactor went from roaring like Formula One racer to going as quiet as an electric car on the highway. No one said anything, obviously either shocked or amazed at what had just occurred, no one that is until Lieutenant Hikowa stood and said. "Sir, that was the most brilliant maneuver I have ever seen."

Commander Keyes gave a short laugh. "You think so, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Yes sir! I never would have even thought about using the advantages that the Covenant Plasma Torpedoes against them." Hikowa affirmed and Keyes had to admit that when it was looked at that way, the maneuver was rather brilliant.

"Lieutenant, if one of my students had proposed such a maneuver in my tactics class back at the Academy. I would've given them a C+. Such a maneuver was full of bravado and daring but it also would have placed the ship and the crew in unnecessary danger. Besides Lieutenant, this isn't over yet. So stay sharp." Keyes said.

"Yes sir!" Hikowa said as she checked the status of the guns. "Sir, the MAC guns are at ninety-five percent and loosing charge at one percent per minute. When we cut the output of the reactors, the output that was being used to maintain the charge in the MAC guns disappeared." She reported.

"Ready the MAC guns, one heavy round apiece. Arm all forward Archer Missile Pods." Keyes ordered.

"Aye sir."

The _Iroquois_ broke free of the dark side of Sigma Octanus IV, using the velocity that she'd built up during her charge toward the enemy ships and the planet to enter a slingshot maneuver.

"Fire chemical thrusters to break orbit, Lieutenant Hall." Keyes ordered.

"Firing thrusters, aye." Hall replied and with the briefest of rumbles the _Iroquois_ broke orbit, the view screen centered on the backsides of the two Covenant Frigates that they had blitzed past on the way in. The two alien ships wheeled around, blue and purple flashes flickered along their hulls, Pulse Lasers and Particle Cannons charged up and motes of red light were collected along the ship's lateral lines as they readied another salvo of plasma torpedoes.

However there was also something there that was too small to see on the view screen from this distance. A single twenty-five meter long _Shiva_ class Thermonuclear Missile, despite having gone at full burn from it's powerful engine for twelve seconds, it hadn't overcome the tremendous forward velocity that the _Iroquois_ had possessed when they had launched that missile. That nuke was bound to be one hell of a surprise for those two Covenant Frigates, mainly because their shields could only handle a single _Shiva_ class thermonuclear warhead going off at close range which would open them up for a nasty alpha strike from the two MAC guns that the _Iroquois_ was armed with.

The nameship of the _Iroquois_ class Destroyer had screamed over the prow of the dead _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyer and then had orbited Sigma Octanus IV, the nuke had drifted closer to the frigates who had made a classic rookie mistake. They had remained solidly focused on the _Iroquois_ , which meant they were in for one hell of a surprise. The missile had drifted closer to the Covenant Frigates.

Commander Keyes tapped his datapad and sent a signal to that missile that said one thing: Detonate. There was a white flash of silent thunder and both ships were engulfed by the nuclear sun that erupted between them and promptly enveloped both ships in a sphere of three-hundred fifty megatons of thermonuclear hellfire. Meanwhile the Electromagnetic Pulse that the nuke unleashed interacted with Sigma Octanus IV's magnetic field and caused a rainbow borealis to ripple across the planet. The cloud of vapor created by the nuke expanded and cooled, fading first to yellow, followed by orange, then red, and finally into black dust that scattered into space. Revealing both Covenant Frigates, their silver hexagonal shields, flickering dimly before collapsing completely and rendering the ships vulnerable.

"Get firing solutions for the MAC guns, Lieutenant Hikowa. On the double." Keyes ordered sharply.

"Aye sir. MAC gun capacitors are holding steady at ninety-four percent. Firing solution online." Hikowa replied.

"Fire, Lieutenant." Keyes said and a moment later two thumps resonated through the hull of the _Iroquois_ , two bolts of yellow-lightning covered the distance between the human warship and the two Covenant Frigates in what appeared to be almost instantly and impacted with several thousand megatons of destructive force. One enemy ship took a round on the nose and the forward eight hundred meters or so of the Covenant Frigate simply seemed to ripple and tear itself apart as the round passed through it, the remains of the ship reacted as if it had been hit by an angry God and was sent tumbling end over end, shedding debris.

The second Covenant Frigate was hit right on the midline, near her engines and the immense kinetic force that the MAC round had simply ripped the ship in half with violent force; internal explosions chained up and down the length of the two halves, bulging the ship's hull, the stern with the reactor in it gave in and turned the stern into a star. The shockwave buffeted the heavily damaged bow section and the stresses became too much and it simply broke apart, sending pieces of the ship scattering out into a wide glittering arc.

That … was the power of the MAC gun firing a two-hundred ton projectile at a good percentage of the speed of light.

"Position of the _DDS_ class and the Cruiser, Lieutenant Hall?" Keyes asked.

Lieutenant Hall paused, then reported. "The Carrier is in polar orbit of Sigma Octanus Four. But she's moving off at considerable speed, headed out-system, course zero-four-five. As for the Cruiser … Slipspace rupture! Twenty thousand kilometers off our portside! The bastard is doing a tactical slipspace jump!" Hall said before suddenly shouting in alarm as the Covenant Cruiser did a move that Keyes didn't see coming.

"Lieutenant Hikowa! The instant that Cruiser pokes his nose out, hammer him with everything and the kitchen sink that can bear!" Keyes thundered.

"Yes sir!" Hikowa replied.

Space frothed and boiled as the greenish-purple bruise of a slipspace rupture appeared near the _Iroquois_. The Covenant Cruiser slid out of the exit point and instantly rather rapid-fire thumps began to resonate through the hull of the _Iroquois_ as her secondary guns engaged and with minute puffs of nitrogen Fusion Archers erupted from their pods and engaged their engines and rocketed forward. The Phalanx Pulse Laser systems came online and stabs of red light shot forth from the emplacements that could be brought to bear on the enemy ship.

The results were surprising. No shields popped into place to stop the incoming ordinance and as a result the Covenant Cruiser ate what appeared to be a full secondary battery alpha strike from the _Iroquois_. Shells punched deep gaping wounds into the enemy ship, in some cases tearing completely through the ship and out the other side often times bringing with them a fair amount of debris. Fusion Archer Missiles streaked forth and barreled toward the enemy, a few stabs of pulse laser fire did reach out in a frantic attempt to stop the missiles, but there was simply _way too many_ missiles and not enough point-defense fire, only a few missiles were swatted out existence. However the vast majority of the missiles impacted and unleashed their devastating payloads directly into naked hull, tearing immense wounds deep into the enemy's hull, secondary explosions began to chain up and down the ship as she started to roll out of control, the missiles having obviously destroyed her latitude and ventral thruster controls. The laser bursts from the Phalanx Laser systems seared the enemy ship's hull, eventually succeeding in burning through the heavily armored hull of the Cruiser. The reactor suddenly gave in and twelve hundred meters of Covenant Cruiser simply turned into brief a blue-white Deuterium-Tritium fueled star. The shockwave buffeted the _Iroquois_ hard and pieces of debris clattered against the hull of the destroyer, pitting and denting her armor.

 _Well, that was interesting._ Keyes thought as he gave out his next set of orders. "Lieutenant Hall, alert the _Allegiance_ and the _Gettysburg_ of the position of the _DDS_ class." He said.

"Yes sir!" Lieutenant Hall replied.

Commander Keyes sighed and then slumped back into his chair, amazed by what they had done. They had stopped a Covenant battlegroup from a glassing a planet single-handedly - saving millions of lives in the process. They had done the impossible: taken on _five_ Covenant ships and _won_.

He stopped himself in his self-congratulations. Something was off, he had never _ever_ seen the Covenant run. In every single battle he had seen or read about, they had _always_ stayed to slaughter every last survivor … or if they were defeated -which was a rarity- they had always fought to the last ship in orbit and to the last man on the ground.

"Check the planet, there has to be something there. Look for anything, dropped weapons, strange transmissions. Something's not right." He told Lieutenant Hall.

"Aye sir." Hall replied.

Keyes prayed that she wouldn't find anything. Mainly because at this point, he was literally out of tricks. The _Iroquois_ while her next generation Deuterium-Helium Three Fusion Reactor was tough, it was in no condition to be pushed hard again anytime soon. Plus they were speeding out on a out-system vector at considerable velocity and while they could stop, it would take forever and a day for the MAC guns to charge, plus they were out of Fusion Archer Missiles, the secondary battery while it could be used would cause considerable collateral damage to the surface of Sigma Octanus IV if they were forced to use it. Thus, while they could maneuver there was no way in hell that they would be able to intercept anything.

"Sir!" Lieutenant Hall cried. "Dropships, sir. That _DDS_ class Carrier deployed thirty, wait no, correction thirty four - dropships. I have silhouettes of Phantom and Spirit Dropships descending to the surface. They're on course for Côte d'Azur. A major population center."

 _Well crap, looks like this was just the first battle in a campaign._ Keyes thought before giving out new orders. "Get FLEETCOM on the horn ASAP, Lieutenant Hall. Time to send in the Marines." He said.

 **0450 Hours, July 17, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **F-203 Rapier Interceptor flying Combat Air Patrol**

 **Military Staging Area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

" _This is Wrecker to Bubi, is it me or is there going to be a lot of action very soon._ " radioed a Rapier pilot.

"Is this because your itch is acting up again?" Erica replied as she did a look-around, checking for anything. She also glanced quickly at the instrument panel.

" _You bet, and it's driving me crazy, I am telling you, there will be action, I just know it._ " Wrecker radioed back.

" _This is_ Yuri Gagarin _callsign, Cosmonaut to all fighters on CAP, this is an update, there have been unconfirmed reports of Covenant activity in the vicinity of Sigma Octanus IV. also we have lost contact with destroyer_ Iroquois _and frigates_ Gettysburg _and_ Allegiance _which were responding in accordance to the_ WINTER CONTINGENCY _as declared by Commander Jacob Keyes of the_ Iroquois _, Vice Admiral Stanforth wants us to investigate those reports and reestablish comms with the three ships. Skull squadron, we are assigning to that duty, White squadron will take over CAP duties._ "

"This is Bubi to Cosmonaut, understood, we will look into the matter." Erica radioed back.

" _Good luck out there, Jolly Rogers._ " Yuri Gagarin answered.

"Well Wrecker, looks like you are right, we will see some action, only not what you thought." Erica radioed.

" _Yeah… damn it this itch is getting on my nerves!_ " Wrecker growled.

" _Damn it Skull Four, you sure, it is not dandruff?_ " another Rapier pilot asked jokingly.

" _Shut up, Goldie! You know that my head only itches only when action is near and it hasn't proven me wrong._ " Wrecker barked.

" _Hey only Skull Leader gets to call me Goldie, remember?_ " Goldie replied.

" _Fine_ " Wrecker, " _Shut The Fuck Up, Skull Six!_ " Wrecker barked.

"Oui! Quiet down back there, don't make me come back there." Erica barked.

" _Yes Skull Leader_ " Goldie and Wrecker replied.

"And they call me the immature one." Erica said to herself, or at least tried to but accidently keyed her mic.

" _Well you kinda are, Skull Leader._ " Her wingman replied.

"Oh, I didn't ask you, Heartbreak." Erica jokingly snapped.

" _There you go proving my point._ " Heartbreak radioed.

" _This is Skull Five to Skull Leader, I got something on my radar._ " radioed a Rapier pilot.

"What is it, Scanner?" Erica asked.

" _Why did I get that call-… AH! I mean, it is a large contact._ " Scanner replied.

" _Word of advice, Skull Five, check your mic next time._ " Another pilot replied.

" _Shut up Skull Three._ " Scanner replied.

"How big is that large contact?" Erica asked.

" _It's the size of a frigate ma'am… You don't think it is one of the missing ships?_ " Scanner asked.

"We cannot be certain about that Scanner." Erica said, "Mackerel, Fisher, I want you two to scout ahead."

" _Understood ma'am, we will fly ahead._ " The two flyers said.

" _A penny for your thought, Skull Leader?_ " Heartbreak asked.

"We are possibly in radar range of a frigate, friend and foe and all it does it just sit there." Erica answered.

" _I don't get you, Skull Leader._ " Heartbreak said.

"Think about it, if it was friendly, it would be either moving towards us, opening up comms or both, if it was hostile, it would be either running away or charging at us with all guns blazing." Erica said, "Which would make it easier for me to deciding on how to react but now…"

" _But since it is just sitting there, you don't know what to do._ " Heartbreak concluded.

"Yep and I want to cross as many possibilities as possible off as to what it could be." Erica answered.

" _And there you go being a proper leader._ " Heartbreak said, " _If only you acted like this more._ "

"Too much effort." Erica smiled.

" _I guess there are some things too much to ask in this world._ " Heartbreak sighed. " _Makes me wonder how you and Barkhorn are the best of friends, you two can't be any more different._ "

" _This is Skull Eleven to Skull Leader, we have visual on the large radar contact._ " Mackerel radioed.

"What is it, Mackerel?" Erica asked.

" _It is UNSC_ Gettysburg _but there is a problem, ma'am._ " Mackerel radioed.

"What is the problem?" Erica asked, a feeling of dread forming in her gut.

" _She is not responding to our calls but Skull Twelve can see activity on the ship._ " Mackerel answered.

"What do you mean she's not responding to your attempts to contact her, but Fisher can you see activity on the ship's hull?" Erica asked, the feeling of dread in her gut growing exponentially.

" _It'll probably be easier just to show you Skull Leader. Opening datalink and getting the_ Gettysburg _into the sightline of the nose-mounted camera."_ Mackerel replied and a moment later up in the left hand corner of Erica's HUD a window opened and a video feed began playing. What it showed caused the bottom to drop out of Erica's stomach.

To say that the UNSC _Gettysburg_ was a mess was an understatement. In some areas the Heavy Frigate's very skeletal structure was visible, a two hundred meter long section of armor along the ship's dorsal side above her MAC gun had been boiled away by a plasma torpedo strike. Numerous heavily blackened areas from Pulse Laser hits adorned her armor, the MAC gun itself was in pieces likely from multiple Particle Cannon hits, her Harpoon Nuclear Missile silos were empty and the area in front of that on the starboard side showed signs of having its internal atmosphere ignited which had torn the area apart, probably thanks to either Pulse Lasers or Particle Cannons, plus several of her point defense guns and her entire secondary battery had been knocked out. Her comm dish and other antenna were also destroyed, probably by pulse lasers. It was clear that the _Gettysburg_ had been mission-killed which what was usually the result when a single Heavy Frigate engaged a Covenant Warship, it always got the short end of the stick. Men in thruster packs were near the massive gash from the plasma strike and was wrestling temporary patches into position.

It made her wonder what sort of shape the _Allegiance_ was in and she got a feeling that she wasn't going to like it. Frigates didn't tend to perform well against Covenant ships unless they were a lot of them as they were designed to be used _en masse_ , hell the Frigates were up until the _Talos_ class Destroyer Leaders entered service with their reverse engineered Anti-gravity systems were the biggest ships that could operate in atmosphere and were able to climb back out of an atmosphere afterward.

"Damnit, she's been mission-killed. Mackerel I an idea on how to contact the _Gettysburg_." Erica said.

" _What is it, Skull Leader?"_ Mackerel asked.

"Use morse code." Erica asked.

" _How are we going to do that?_ Gettysburg _'s comms are dead._ " Mackerel reminded, thinking that Erica forgot.

"Use your navigation lights, Just hope that someone on _Gettysburg_ can read morse code." Erica said.

" _Oh, okay._ " Mackerel said before there was a pause, " _Um… how?_ "

"Seriously? How do you _not_ know morse code?" Erica grumbled, accidently keying her mic.

" _Be easy on Skull Eleven, he is still wet behind the ears and morse code hasn't be taught seriously in flight school for some time now._ " Heartbreak said.

"Verdammt…" Erica breathed, "Mackerel, Fisher, hold your position, we are coming to support you."

" _Understood Skull Leader._ " Mackerel said. It wasn't a long journey to the _Gettysburg_ but it was a journey none of the Jolly Rogers wanted to make if it meant coming to the sorry sight that was UNSC _Gettysburg_. Erica almost felt like making Mackerel run ten laps along the entire length of the _Yuri Gagarin_ for making her see the _Gettysburg._ Key word, almost.

"All fighters, hold position." Erica ordered as she inched her way to the _Gettysburg_ as she looked at the bridge of the ship which somehow looked intact. She then turned on her navigation light. "I hope to god, they can read this."

[This is Commander Hartmann of VF-103 to UNSC _Gettysburg_ , can you read me over?] Erica signalled. She waited anxiously for the Heavy Frigate to respond.

[This is _Gettysburg_ to VF-103, yes we can read you, thank god you came] The Heavy Frigate replied.

"Thank god." Erica said to herself, this time her mic was off.

[This is Hartmann to _Gettysburg_ , what is your situation?] Erica asked.

[Not good, we have been mission killed and is basically dead in the water] _Gettysburg_ replied.

[What the hell did you engage?] Erica inquired.

[ _DDS_ class Carrier, the thing tore us apart and destroyed the _Allegiance_. We didn't even drop the fucker's shield.] _Gettysburg_ replied.

"Shit!" Erica cursed as she knew what were the ramification if a _DDS_ class showed up.

" _What's wrong Skull Leader?_ " Heartbreak asked.

"I know what mission killed the _Gettysburg_ Heartbreak,it was a _DDS_ class." Erica answered sourly.

" _Goddamnit all to hell, this day just gets better and better doesn't it._ " Heartbreak grumbled.

"Ja, you got that right, fucking schweinhund." Erica grumbled. [This is Hartmann to _Gettysburg_ , where is the _DDS_ now?]

[The bastard jumped into Slipspace after bisecting _Allegiance_ 's reactor with a shot from one of her energy projectors. So we don't have to worry about her, well for the moment.] came the reply from the Heavy Frigate.

[Thank god for that] Erica signalled back. [Now, what happened to the the _Iroquois_?]

[They're still out there, just in bad shape and probably shit out of ammo too. But then again, after taking on _five_ Covenant ships in five vs. one the hard way and _winning_ , I am not surprised. Hell the _ballsy_ stunt that Commander Keyes pulled off is likely what resulted in the _DDS_ class bugging out.]

[What did your commander do?] Erica asked as her curiosity wanted to know.

[It is going to be hard to explain to you like this, commander.] _Gettysburg_ replied.

[Just try, I want to know.] Erica insisted.

[That's pretty difficult ma'am. But the maneuver they did, well I think it should be called the 'Keyes Loop' or something. What they did is that they first charged at a pair of enemy Frigates, got them to fire Plasma at them. Then _Iroquois_ launched a nuke, did an emergency thruster maneuver to dodge the plasma. Once that was done, they did a course correction, fucking _grazed_ a Covenant Destroyer and the plasma slammed into it, then _Iroquois_ unleashed hell and destroyed it. She then went into a slingshot orbit around Sigma Octanus IV and detonated the nuke between the two frigates and destroyed them both. Then to top it all off, a Covenant Cruiser did a tactical slipspace jump, only to get hammered thoroughly by the _Iroquois_. Which resulted in the _DDS_ class bugging out.] _Gettysburg_ explained.

[Wow, that's impressive.] Erica replied. [I want to meet this Keyes fella. He deserves a promotion and a round of beer.]

[And then some] _Gettysburg_ cheekily added.

[Sorry, someone already got my heart] Erica replied.

[Sorry, forgot about that] The signaller on the frigate apologized.

[It's okay but I have another question _Gettysburg_ , can you maneuver?] Erica questioned.

[CHENG says she won't dare push the secondary reactors past thirty percent and our main reactor is inoperable but we can move but don't ask us to make any sharp turns, we will just break apart.] _Gettysburg_ replied.

[Alright, I will have two flights escort you to the _Yuri Gagarin._ ] Erica signalled.

[Understood, Commander Hartmann, thank you] _Gettysburg_ replied as it began to move but at a snail's pace. With only the port and starboard secondary propulsion thrusters igniting, which meant that the _Gettysburg_ 's primary D-He3 Fusion Reactor was offline.

" _Damn that's slow._ " Heartbreak commented.

"Yeah, that's true but looking at the damage she suffered, I am surprised that she is able to move at all." Erica answered. " Joker, Racetrack, I want your flights to escort the _Gettysburg_ back to the _Yuri Gagarin_ ,"

" _Skull Thirteen to Skull Leader, why do_ we _have to escort the crippled frigate?_ " Joker radioed in a semi-whining tone.

"Why? Because I said so, got any problems?" Erica said. "Also the farther you are from me, the better."

" _It's not my fault! Those all have been coincidences, Skull Leader!_ " Joker replied.

"You tell yourself that, Joker but having four cups of coffee spilled on me just today alone and need I mention all those other incidents ever since you joined my squadron? You're lucky that you are still flying." Erica said.

" _But… Skull Leader, I…_ " Joker tried to replied but he didn't realize he was flying towards his wingman,

" _SKULL THIRTEEN! WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!_ " barked Joker's wingman barked.

" _Oh shit!_ " Joker said he yanked his plane away from his wingman.

"Joker, I swear to god, if the _Gettysburg_ gets more damaged than she already is, I will have your ass on the next shuttle for training school." Erica threatened.

" _So what do you want the rest of the squadron to do?_ " Heartbreak asked.

"The rest of us? Well we got a _Iroquois_ to hunt down." Erica said.

" _Huh?_ " A Rapier pilot asked.

" _And you ask why she calls you Dreamer._ " Another pilot asked.

"Just get in line, Dreamer, Blade." Erica requested.

" _Yes Skull Leader._ " Dreamer and Blade said.

" _So where do we start looking for this_ Iroquois _, Skull Leader?_ " Heartbreak asked.

"I think we should look near Sigma Octanus IV, I assume they would try to head to the planet." Erica assumed.

" _Make sense, the planet is the nearest._ " Heartbreak said.

"But I want the squadron to fan out in search of that ship, first pair to find the _Iroquois_ , will get a reward." Erica said.

" _Come on, Skull Fifteen! Let's get going!_ " A Rapier pilot urged her lead.

" _All in due time, Skull Sixteen, we cannot rush things like this._ " her lead replied.

"I can see Dispatch is as impatient as ever, Poet" Erica radioed.

" _Yes she is, Skull Leader, She wants things done faster._ " Poet replied.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Get hunting, I want that destroyer, and I want it now." Erica ordered.

" _Yes, Skull Leader_ " All the remaining pilots replied before heading off in pairs.

" _Let's get hunting Skull Leader, shall we?_ " Heartbreak replied.

"Yes, let's get going." Erica said as she and her wingman left to look for the _Iroquois_.

It didn't take long for the _Iroquois_ to be located as she was found floating near Sigma Octanus IV, she was in surprisingly good condition despite having locked horns with multiple Covenant ships. A large section of her bow armor was heavily blacked and appeared to be burned away, like by concentrated pulse laser fire, while two stripes of what had probably been crimson war paint that had adorned the hull of the UNSC _Iroquois_ , now looked like bloody slashes. But the most incredible damage was on her belly, every single bottom deck had breached, Commander Keyes with his crazy little stunt had abraded through _two_ _goddamned meters_ of some of the toughest ship armor in existence by the UNSC Space Navy.

"Well, I'll be damned, she looks much better than _Gettysburg_ does," Erica commented.

" _Yep and looks like we won again, Skull Leader_ " Heartbreak said, " _Why do you even bother having these contests?_ "

"Because they are fun." Erica replied.

" _Damn, Skull Leader I can practically heard that smile on your face._ " Heartbreak said.

"Your hearing must be going because I don't hear a thing." Erica said innocently. Soon the rest of the squadron arrived and it was easy to tell that many were not happy with the results.

" _Damn it, now I won't get that por-*Cough* movie now_ " A Rapier pilot grumbled.

" _Goddamnit Skull Twenty, I can see why she gave you the callsign Hentai_ " Another pilot radioed.

" _Well Skull Twenty One, you can see why Skull Leader calls you Tortoise, you are slow to catch on_ " Fisher commented.

" _Ah shut up, Skull Twelve_ " Tortoise barked.

" _Now, now, it is unwise to fight with our fellow pilots, we need to work together._ " A Rapier pilot said.

" _You sure earn the title, Preacher, Skull Eight._ " Wrecker said.

" _Well he is the squadron's Chaplain after all_ " Goldie said, " _Like how Skull Seven is called Imam as he is the squadron's sole Muslim._ "

" _Yes, now let's cut the chatter, we are on duty_ " Imam said. While Erica's squadron chattered amongst themselves, Erica and Heartbreak established contact with _Iroquois_ which now gave them a new mission.

"Well, now that you chatterboxes are all here, now we got a new mission," Erica said, "Now we got to get _Iroquois_ and her crew of nutjobs to the military staging area. Hopefully Joker and his circus hasn't fucked anything up."

" _Don't worry, I don't think they would do anything to the_ Gettysburg _._ " Heartbreak said.

" _Do I need to remind you of this morning, Heartbreak?_ " Erica deadpanned.

" _Right. Good point._ " Heartbreak recalled the sitcom quality incident this morning.

"Now let's give the _Iroquois_ a proper escort, so form up and keep your eyes peeled." Erica ordered. Soon the fighters and the destroyer made their way towards the _Yuri Gagarin_. Luckily for Joker, the _Gettysburg_ was in the same condition Erica left her so that means Joker is going to be with the Jolly Rogers a little longer much to Erica's annoyance.

 **AN: That's the chapter folks, so we're going to be following the Sigma Octanus IV arc and then we are off to Reach to delve into the story proper. Now main reason for this is because well, we've seen how most people react when they see a Scarab in person for the first time, but now? Now we are going to see how two established veterans handle themselves in face of Covenant Forces. Not to mention, it has a rather important plot device.**

 **Now onto the matter of the Iroquois and her AEGIS armor and newer more powerful MAC gun and reactors. The AEGIS armor is something that was bound to happen once the UNSC cracked the code on Nanolaminate, the reason it's only being seen now is because well it takes time to research and develop these sorts of things. As for the Iroquois's MAC being more powerful, it's not a coilgun but more along the lines of Helical Railgun which combines the best of both coilguns and railguns. Hence the increase in punching power because of the superior velocity physics offered by railguns. As for the Phalanx Pulse Lasers, we have anti-missile laser systems now, but when the enemy is launching missiles with MIRV warheads that are individually powered and maneuverable -like Covenant Antimatter Missiles- at you? It becomes a case of Kinetic weapons are just better, it wasn't until the UNSC captured a fully function Pulse Laser turret in 2547 that they were able to develop the Phalanx Pulse Laser Turret. As for the reactors? Improvements in the parts that help contain the plasma are improved etc.**

 **Still, fear not. UNSC Pillar of Autumn will still be able to kick ass and take names, she'll be even more incredibly badass than in canon. If you want you guys can start to muck around with guessing how different she'll be. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not really, you said what needs to said already.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Well how was that for a chapter to kick-off the Sigma Octanus Arc? Pretty big if you ask me. Now then** _ **this**_ **chapter will predominately focus on the preparations for the upcoming space action, but we** _ **may**_ **go downstairs to the surface of Sigma Octanus IV. Again, heavy inspiration for the chapter comes from Eric Nylund's novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Time for some noble art of war to commence.**

 **1855 Hours, July 17, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

 **Military Staging Area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

Commander Jacob Keyes had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that while he had -single-handily really- won the first battle in the Sigma Octanus System; it had only been the first of what was likely bound to be many battles for this system. Still the response that had been brought to this system was simply immense.

Four dozen UNSC Warships and two dozen URF warships were in orbit around the planet: Frigates and Destroyers -including four of _Iroquois_ 's sisters-, three _Halcyon_ class Light Cruisers, a _Vindication_ class Light Battleship, three Carriers: the _Atlas_ class Carrier _Yuri Gagarin_ , the _Eion_ class Light Carrier _Musashi_ , and the _Orion_ class Assault Carrier _Graf Zeppelin_ , a monstrous repair and refitting station, and that was just UNSC Warships. The URF ships, which looked vaguely like Systems Alliance ships from Mass Effect were also in force here as there were Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers of the Light and Heavy variety, and a single URF Battleship. In total there was more ships here than Admiral Cole had at his disposal during his five-year-long campaign to kick the Covenant off of Harvest in order to save the planet. In other words Vice Admiral Stanforth had pulled out all the stops, just to protect this single colony.

Now, while Commander Keyes was incredibly grateful with the quick and _tremendous_ response, it left him wondering why the Vice Admiral had dedicated so many ships to the area. Sigma Octanus IV wasn't strategically positioned, the planet had no special resources as well. Sure the UNSC and now URF had standing orders from the _President of the UEG_ himself to protect civilian lives, but the fleet was spread dangerously thin. Plus he also knew that their were more valuable systems that needed protection, so it was a little baffling.

Shaking his head, Keyes pushed those thoughts aside. He was sure that Vice Admiral Stanforth had his reasons, but he also had a pretty good idea of what those reasons were. In the meantime, the repair and refit of the _Iroquois_ was his top priority and he didn't want to get caught only half ready or worse when the Covenant Navy returned … or rather _when_ they returned. It had been an unusual and curious thing: seeing the aliens drop their ground forces and then retreat. That wasn't their usual MO, usually their MO consisted of jump in-system, blow the ever living _hell_ out of whatever UNSC, URF, or civilian ships they encountered in-system and stations in orbit, deploy ground troops and start killing or destroying everything that was human or built by humans, and then glass the planet. Which was what made the way the Covenant operated in this case rather unusual, but Keyes got the thing that this was the mere opening move in a game that he didn't fully understand yet.

As the _Iroquois_ moved forward under her own power, the coolant within her reactor near the failure point. A shadow crossed the fore camera as she maneuvered closer to the _Cradle_ , a massive repair and refitting station like the Anchor stations but with engines. To say that the _Cradle_ was large was an understatement, this monster was thirteen point two kilometers long, with ten decks of super hard Titanium-C and durable composites making her up. She had the ability to cover three _Punic_ class Supercarriers, an _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyer, _and_ a two hundred seventy meter long _Mako_ class Corvette with her shadow. The station could running at full steam refit two entire Destroyer Divisions some twenty destroyers plus their destroyer leaders, with a single division being repair and refitted on her upper surfaces and another on her bottom surfaces all within a matter of hours.

A series of loud _clangs_ rang through the _Iroquois_ 's hull as the docking clamps on the _Cradle_ came down in order to hold the destroyer in place, and then scaffolds came down, and resupply tubes and hoses snaked their way to the proper hatches while cargo trams began to ferry men in full EVA gear, plus equipment and materials needed for repairs. It would take fifty hours with the _Cradle_ focusing the majority of the attention on the _Iroquois_ to get her back into proper fighting trim once again. Despite the fact that the aliens had landed a Plasma Torpedo shot that had nearly breached the hull, key word being _nearly_. The powerful warship had still nearly been destroyed by what some in the fleet were already calling the "Keyes Loop.", mostly the surviving crew of the _Gettysburg_ and the pilots of the UNSC _Yuri Gagarin_.

Commander Keyes glanced at his datapad and the _extensive_ list of repairs that the _Iroquois_ needed and scowled slightly. A good sized section of the armor on her bow as well the bulkheads in the two most adjacent compartments needed to be taken off the ship and replaced, a full twenty percent of the electronics on board needed to be replaced thanks to the EMP burst from the _Shiva_ detonation. On top of _that_ the _Iroquois_ need a full engine overhaul. The main coolant valve for all five reactors had been fused from the tremendous heat and the secondary one had partially fused thanks to the same thing, seven superconducting magnets, the things that controlled the plasma inside the reactors had to be replaced for sure with another five being question marks.

But the most troubling and to be frank troublesome damage that had happened had occurred to the _Iroquois_ 's ventral surface. When the repair crews had told him what had happened there, he had personally gone out in a C709 Longsword Bomber to personally inspect what he had done to his ship.

Now Keyes knew that there was bound to be _some_ damage there, they _had_ grazed the prow of a Covenant _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyer at Emergency Speed after all. But the extent of the damage quite literally took his breath away.

UNSC _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyers had _two meters_ of AEGIS Battleplate, one of the toughest alloys known to man on their exterior surfaces, and he had succeeded in abrading through _all of it_ , breaching every single bottom deck on his ship. Jagged, razor sharp serrated edges of plate curled away from the wound like steel plate that had gone through a cutting press at a funny angle. Men in full EVA gear and equipped with thruster packs armed with powerful Plasma torches were working feverishly, cutting away the comprised plates from the damaged sections so new plates could be welded into place, and he also knew that a similar process was happening on the ship's bow as well.

Now the underside was mirror smooth and perfectly flat, however Keyes knew that the appearance of the flatness was begin. Had the _Iroquois_ been angled down even a mere _degree_ , the resulting kinetic force that would have been inflicted on the _Iroquois_ would have ripped her in two. As the old saying went "Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest Son-of-a-bitch in space." The MAC guns surely proved that as had the damage that a mere graze had caused to his ship.

The crimson war stripes that had been painted on _Iroquois_ ' side now looked messy bloody slashes, giving her appearance as if some great beast had been mauled savagely, with her sides ripped open to cause it's lifeblood to flow freely. The dockmaster of the _Cradle_ had privately told him that he could have his crew buff off the stripes or even repaint them if he wanted.

Commander Keyes had politely refused the offer. This was because he wanted those war stripes to remain exactly the way they were and the reason for this was two fold. While everyone was clearly admiring what he had done, he wanted to be reminded that the "Keyes Loop" had been born not out of bravery but out of sheer _desperation_. The other reason was simple as well, he wanted to be reminded just how close of a brush with death he and the rest of his crew had gone through.

After Keyes had returned to the _Iroquois_ , he marched straight to his quarters and while he wanted to do no more than sleep for a couple of hours. He had several things to do, one of them being rather unpleasant. Thus, he sat down at his antique oak desk and tapped the intercom. "Lieutenant Dominique, you have the bridge for the next cycle. I am not to be disturbed."

It took only a second for the Lt. in question to respond. _"Aye, Commander. Understood."_

Commander Keyes then loosened his collar and unbuttoned his uniform. He then opened the bottom drawer in his desk and retrieved a year 2482 bottle of Scotch from the green hills of Earth; it had been a gift from his father and something that he rarely indulged in. But considering the events of today, a good stiff drink was most _certainly_ in order. Thus with that in mind, he withdrew a plastic cup and poured himself four centimeters of scotch.

But besides dealing with the repair and refit of his ship, he had an even more unpleasant task that needed to be dealt with, what to do about Lieutenant Jaggers. The man had exhibited borderline cowardice and insubordination, plus as if that wasn't bad enough. He had come to within a hair's breath of attempted mutiny. Keyes _wanted_ to have him court-martialed in fact every single regulation in the book was basically yelling at him to have it done … but the more he thought about it the more he realized that he didn't have it in him to send the young man before the board of inquiry.

Keyes believed in second chances, but this was where he drew the line. It was clear that Jaggers didn't have the stomach for Fleet Actions. However Keyes didn't want to be responsible for booting the young man out of the military. But this also made the Commander think, was it really his fault? Should he have told his bridge crew what he had been attempting to pull? No, there hadn't been anytime at all and most certainly no time for the discussion that Jaggers would have wanted to have, it had simply been do or die at that time. Still, what could he do for the man without ruining his career? Maybe having him reassigned to a remote sensor outpost or something of that nature?

However reassigning Jaggers brought up a new dilemma that Commander Keyes had to tackle. With Lieutenant Jaggers being sent to a Remote Sensing Outpost, it would leave a hole in his bridge crew. Which meant that someone on the _Iroquois_ was likely going to become a Bridge Officer, thus with that in mind, he accessed the service records of his junior officers and noted that their were several who would probably qualify for the posting of navigation officer, he was flipping through the various files on his datapad when he noticed something that caused him to pause.

The theoretical paper on mass-space compression was still open, as well as his hastily calculated course corrections. He smiled and archived those notes, mainly because he may have to do a lecture on this battle at the Academy sometime in the future and it would be handy as well as incredibly useful to have the original source material. However besides those files, there was also the data report from the _Archimedes_ Sensor Outpost. The report had been thoroughly made with crisp and clean data charts and a navigational course plotted for the object through Slipstream space, something that wasn't an easy task even when you had an Artificial Intelligence helping. Another thing that the report had was tags to direct the report to the astrophysics section of the UNSC, how thoughtful.

Curious as to who made the report, Keyes looked up the service record of the officer who had filed the report: Ensign William Lovell; what he read made him lean in closer to the screen of his datapad. The boy's Career Service Vitae or CSV was almost twice as long as his was. He had volunteered and had been accepted at the Luna Academy. Although he had transferred his second year, but the reason was rather interesting, he had received a commission to Ensign for heroism in a training flight that had gone wrong, succeeding in saving the entire crew. He took a duty posting on the first outbound corvette heading into battle against the Covenant. Three Bronze Stars, a Silver Cluster, and two Purple Hearts, and he had been catapulted to First Lieutenant within three years, no small feat.

But then something had happened and it all went down the drain. Lovell's decline in the UNSC had been nearly as quick as his ascent. Four counts of insubordination, was busted down to Second Lieutenant and eventually to Ensign and he had transferred twice. An incident with a civilian woman was also mentioned although there was no details, but Commander Keyes briefly wondered if the girl listed in the report, one Anna Gerov, was the daughter of Vice Admiral Gerov.

He had then been reassigned to the _Archimedes_ Remote Sensing Outpost … and had been there ever since last year. Something that was an _unheard_ of length of time at such a remote facility. His curiosity deepened, he reviewed the logs that Lovell had made when he had been on duty and found that they were carefully and intelligently written. Thus that meant that the boy was still sharp … so what was he hiding?

He was startled by a gentle knock at the door. "Lieutenant Dominique, I said I was not to be disturbed." He said.

"Sorry to intrude son." A muffled voice replied. The door's pressure wheel turned and the very last person that Commander Keyes expected to see walked into his quarters: Vice Admiral Stanforth. "But I thought I'd just stop by since I was in the neighborhood."

Vice Admiral Stanforth was a substantial degree smaller in-person than he appeared on screen. His back was stooped over from age and his white hair was thinning. But his blue eyes still gleamed with razor sharp intelligence and he carried the powerful and reassuring air of authority that all Admirals seemed to carry, one that Keyes instantly recognized.

Keyes came to attention so fast that he knocked his chair over. "Sir!" he barked.

"At ease, son." The Vice Admiral looked around his quarters, with his gaze lingering for a moment on a framed copy of Lagrange's original manuscript from which he had derived his equations of motion. "You can pour me a few fingers of whiskey if you can spare it."

"Yes sir." Keyes said as he reached down to grab another plastic cup, he fumbled with the thing but managed to get it on the table and poured the Vice Admiral a drink.

Stanforth took a sip and then sighed appreciatively. "Very nice."

Keyes in the meantime had righted his chair and offered it to the Vice Admiral. Who took the offer and sat down and then he leaned forward. "I wanted to congratulate you personally on the one helluva of a miracle that you pulled off here, Keyes."

This floored the Commander, he _hadn't_ been expecting this. "Sir, I don't -" he started to say before Stanforth held up a finger and Keyes closed his mouth. "Don't interrupt me, son. That was one hell of a brilliant piece of astrogation that you pulled off. People noticed and it gave the morale in the fleet one hell of a much needed shot in the arm." He took another sip of liquor and exhaled. "Now, that brings us to the main reason we're all here. We need a victory, it's been far too damn long with those alien bastards playing kick the can with us and we're the can. So this has _got_ to be a win, not matter what it takes."

"I fully understand sir." Keyes said, he knew for a fact that morale was practically in the gutter and had been so for years throughout the UNSC. No military in the history of humanity, no matter how well trained could stomach defeat after defeat for years without it affecting their determination in battles.

"How is it going planetside, sir?" Keyes asked, knowing for a fact that whenever the Covenant invaded these battles always had two theaters of operations, up in orbit and planetside.

"Right now you don't need to worry about that." Vice Admiral Stanforth eased his chair back, balancing it on two legs. "General Kits has his troops evacuating the surrounding cities as we speak and according to the reports that he has made, they'll be ready to assault Côte d'Azur by 0700 Hours tomorrow. They'll paste those aliens faster than you can spit, you just watch." he said.

"Of course, sir." Keyes replied, but then he looked away. He was mulling over how the Covenant had acted earlier today and that it simply just _didn't_ fit their MO at all. This was different.

"You got something else to say, boy? Spit it out."

"Well, sir … the way that the Covenant operated today when they first jumped in-system? It just didn't fit their usual MO, I mean dropping an invasion force and then leaving the system? It doesn't make any sense, when they arrive in a human-system, they either slaughter everything and destroy anything in orbit that was built by man or die trying. This is something altogether different."

Vice Admiral Stanforth waved a hand dismissively. "While I do agree with you their Keyes, it is a little strange. You leave trying to figure out what the Covenant was thinking up to the spooks at ONI, son. Just get the _Iroquois_ patched up and back into fighting shape again. Also you let me know if you need anything."

Stanforth knocked back the last of his whiskey and stood. "We got additional friendly ships arriving soon, got to figure out how they'll be useful, that and I have to draw up a few battle plans for upcoming action. Oh, almost forgot" he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny cardboard box and set it on the Commander's desk. "Consider it official, the paperwork will catch up with us soon enough."

Commander Keyes opened the box and was greeted by a sight he never expected to see: a pair of brass collar insignia polished to a high sheen, with four bars and single star. The rank insignia of a Captain.

"Congratulations, _Captain_ Keyes." Stanforth snapped a quick salute, then held out his hand. Through his amazed stupor, Keyes managed to grasp the Admiral's hand and shake firmly. To be frank Keyes was stunned, he simply couldn't say anything in response to his sudden promotion. "You've earned it."

The Vice Admiral started to turn. "Give me a shout if you need anything."

"Yes sir." Keyes stared for a moment longer at the brass star and stripes before tearing his gaze away. He actually did have a request for the Admiral. "Vice Admiral … there is one thing actually. I need a replacement navigation officer."

The relaxed posture that Vice Admiral Stanforth had stiffened and he looked a little sympathetic. "I heard about that, it's rather ugly business when a bridge officer loses their stomach. Well you just give me the candidate's name and I'll make sure that you get him … just as long as you aren't pulling him off of my ship." He smiled. "Keep up the good work, Captain."

"Sir!" Recently minted Captain Keyes saluted. The Vice Admiral stepped out and closed door, a moment after it did, Keyes practically fell into his chair in shocked surprise. He had never dreamed or even imagined for that matter that they'd make him a Captain. He turned the brass insignia over in his palm and replayed the entirety of his conversation that he had with Vice Admiral Stanforth in his mind. He had said "Captain Keyes." therefore yes, this was real.

But the Vice Admiral had also brushed his concerns off about the Covenant far too quickly. Which considering that Vice Admiral Stanforth was the former head of the Office of Naval Intelligence Section III, that meant that something didn't quite add up here.

Keyes clicked the on the intercom and engaged the circuit for the bridge. "Lieutenant Dominique: track the Vice Admiral's shuttle when he leaves. Let me know which ship he's on." He said calmly.

" _Sir?"_ Dominique replied sounding confused. _"We had a Vice Admiral aboard? I wasn't informed."_

"No, Lieutenant, I suspect you weren't. Regardless just track the next outbound shuttle." Keyes said.

" _Aye aye, sir."_ Dominique replied.

Keyes then looked back to his datapad and reread Ensign Lovell's CSV. While he couldn't take back what had happened with Jaggers-there was no way in hell that their could be a second chance for him. Keyes figured that maybe he could somehow balance out the books by giving Lovell another chance, one that Keyes felt that the boy deserved.

Thus he pulled up the proper paperwork forms -well while it wasn't on paper but it still carried the moniker- for the transfer request. The one thing that Keyes didn't like about the forms was the fact that they were long and unnecessarily complex. Once he finished filling out the forms though, he sent the files to UNSC PERSCOM and sent a copy directly to Vice Admiral Stanforth's staff.

" _Sir?"_ Lieutenant Dominique's voice broke over the intercom. _"The Vice Admiral's shuttle just docked with the_ Leviathan _."_

That got Keyes's attention, the UNSC _Leviathan_ or Levi as she was known as was a _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser. To see one out here? Beyond the inner colonies? That was a rarity. "Put it on screen." He said.

The screen that was on his desk went from displaying the logo of the UNSC to the view from camera five with covered the aft starboard part of the ship. While there was dozens of ships in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV, the vast majority were Frigates and Destroyers, but the _Leviathan_ stuck out and thus Keyes easily spotted her. She was a _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser, one of only _forty_ or so of the powerful warships that were still in existence. She was 1,192 meters long, 293 meters wide, and 375 meters tall, with 191 centimeters of Titanium-C Battleplate with thirty centimeters or so of composites and carbon nanotubes either behind or sandwiched into those 191 centimeters of Titanium-C, plus she was armed with two heavy coil MAC guns, depending on the mission modules installed on the ship upwards of sixty oversized Fusion Archer Missile Pods could be carried although forty-two oversized Fusion Archer Missile Pods was the standard loadout, complementing the Fusion Archers were five _Shiva_ class Nuclear Missiles, eighteen dual 20.3cm railgun secondary battery turrets with nine on the port and starboard sides, plus a sizeable point-defense battery, an Aerospace Wing depending on the mission module loadout of normally one twelve man squadron of Broadswords and a ten man squadron of Rapiers although the _Marathon_ class could be setup as a light carrier with seven squadrons of Interceptors, Multiroles, and/or Bombers.

A Heavy Cruiser, one of the most powerful warships ever built by human hands, behind only the _Vindication_ class Light Battleship, _Ares_ class Heavy Battleship, the _Atlantis_ class Dreadnought, and the _Punic_ class Supercarrier. Keyes knew that the mighty warships were slowly being pulled out of forward areas and parked in reserve in order to guard the Inner Colonies and that they were rarely released to the frontlines, but actually seeing one on the frontlines? That was becoming rarer and rarer.

Something suddenly caught his eye, a shadow, it moved slowly below the _Leviathan_ , black moving on black; the craft revealing itself for the briefest of instants as the sunlight from Sigma Octanus hit the ship, then like a snake it slithered back into the darkness and vanished. That had been a prowler.

Those ships were used _exclusively_ by the Office of Naval Intelligence. There was something going on here, more than just a simple a morale boost considering that there was _both_ a Heavy Cruiser and a ONI presence here. But, Keyes tried his best to not think about it too much. This was merely because it wasn't the best of ideas to go too far questioning the intentions of one's superior officer _especially_ when that officer was an O-9 and that was doubly true when ONI was literally lurking in the shadows.

Keyes poured himself another three fingers of scotch, corked the bottle and put it away. Followed by downing his drink and setting his head on his desk. Just to rest his eyes for a moment, the last couple of hours had thoroughly drained him.

 **Meanwhile**

 **UNSC** _ **Yuri Gagarin**_ **, VF-103 Squadron's CO quarters**

Erica was in her quarters resting after an exhausting day of work which was mostly paperwork. Now she was engaged in one of her favourite past-times, video-chatting the love of her life.

"Hold on, let me get the video feed up." Erica said as she adjusted her tablet, "There we go, how's my favorite ODST doing?"

" _I am doing just fine_ " Amirah replied, " _Though I must say I am loving the green streak you got in your hair there._ "

"Thanks, I thought it would be a nice change although Trude gives me all sorts of hell for it." Erica said.

" _Well that's Trude for you, always by the book and nothing else._ " Amirah chuckled.

"So how are you doing?" Erica asked.

" _I am doing just fine, Erica but I think I need to dye my hair black again as you can see, it is already quite grey already._ " Amirah said as she showed her hair to Erica. Erica felt bad for Amirah as ever since she joined the ODSTs, Amirah has had a problem with her hair greying at an insane rate and cryosleep doesn't help either as her hair would still grey out anyway. Amirah combats her greying hair by dying her hair black. However it still doesn't stop her from being dubbed the oldest looking soldier in the UNSC, many times she has been mistaken for being much older much to her chagrin and annoyance. Erica remembered during one of the few dates they had together and this was to a cinema on Reach, Amirah was asked to show her senior citizen card. Erica thanked god that Amirah was in a good mood or that cashier would be dead before she knew it. " _I swear sooner or later, I am going to just say "fuck it" and let my hair turn white._ "

"I suppose it would be for the better, Amirah, at least you can save your money." Erica said.

" _I guess you are right, but you have to admit, it is kinda funny that you, one of the youngest looking officers in the Navy is dating me, one of the oldest looking officers in the ODSTs_ " Amirah smiled.

"Well love is blind, Amirah." Erica replied, "So anything interesting in your section of the universe?"

" _Quite so, I bumped into a Marine who I found to be quite the good company and a great drinking buddy. I think his name was Sergeant… Ah yes, Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson, that's his name._ " Amirah said.

"Well good for you, so how did you two bump into each other?" Erica asked.

" _It was in a gym on base, his company got stationed on the base for awhile as the Marine Base was full. I bumped into him and I swear the first thing he said to me was,_ "Damn, looks like I found competition for the oldest looking frontline active duty soldier now." _and that kinda ticked me off and long story short, we got into the ring and he whooped my ass which is kinda embarrassing since I am twenty years younger than him but then again after the spar, he told me about his military career and how he's no normal Marine. It was enlightening to say the least. And the best part? I had my magic semi-activated and he still gave me hell._ " Amirah said. " _Though not say bad of him, he did have the tiny advantage on me seeing how my right eye is bad. I lost count of how many right hooks I didn't see coming._ "

"Damn, that means he is just as strong as a witch with Super Strength." Erica said. It was three weeks ago that Amirah helped her and Gertrude remember their past, not that it made much of a difference as Erica and Gertrude never found a time or situation to use their magic. Erica's Sturm was useless in space for the simple reason that there was no atmosphere to manipulate in space while Gertrude's Super Strength, well that was self-explanatory.

" _Well, anyway, after that, I decided to take the sergeant for a drink as a treat for beating me in the ring. He was surprised by that, that was until one of my boys, Luz told him that I would buy anyone a drink if they can beat me in a ring. He then turns around to me and smiles,_ "That sounds like something I would do and I am liking you more already." _But anyway, we went to Jack's Saloon and we became good friends. Didn't do much, just cracked jokes and exchanged war stories._ "

"Looks like you found another drinking buddy." Erica smiled. Erica wasn't really surprised that Amirah made another friend as she is quite the sociable person and is easy to talk to. There is a reason why Amirah is called "Soldier's Mama" because she is willing to listen to anyone and be a shoulder to lean on. Erica knows this to be very true when she lost a good friend where Amirah comforted her despite the fact that being on a planet countless light years away from her but to Erica, it was as if Amirah was sitting right next to her. "So how's the rest doing?"

" _Those lot? They are doing alright though Minna still has trouble believing that you outrank her and command an actual squadron and not fucking it up. Sakamoto, well she is a bit annoyed that she doesn't have a sword on her, can't blame her, it's something she carried all the time. Well nothing much with the rest, oh wait, Eila and Sanya are dating, no surprise there. Shirley and Francesca, they do their thing, almost impossible to see them apart. Lynnette is still that sharpshooter of the group. I heard she doesn't mount any scope on her rifle. Perrine is still annoyed by the fact that_ everyone _calls her Rock and I want to feel sorry for her but her reaction to being called Rock is just too funny. Yoshika is the medic… wait, she is the_ Chief Medical Officer _of the company because of her skills and expertise. Oh I remember how proud she sounded when she told me about her promotion which always make me quite proud but I don't know why_ " Amirah said.

"Well you are her mother figure, Amirah, and now you are really playing the part." Erica smiled.

" _I guess you are right about that, Erica_ " Amirah chuckled.

"But Amirah, I am curious, how did their first encounter with the Covenant go? You never mentioned in detail how they reacted." Erica said. Her heart sank when she saw Amirah frown at Erica's question.

" _Not going to lie, I wouldn't want them anywhere near my company when the lead starts flying but when you put in the factor of a Scarab and several Locusts was their first dose, you can't blame them for freezing up from the fear. I almost did the first time_ I _saw a Scarab, only my first sergeant's screaming at me, got me back into the game._ " Amirah said.

"Damn… I really feel sorry for them, meeting a Scarab is not the best way to start a war." Erica said.

" _Yeah that's true. So how about you, how is the Navy today?_ " Amirah asked.

"It could be better," Erica sighed, "Earlier today was not my best, had to throw away a uniform, it was completely drenched in coffee. All thanks to Joker, you know that man."

" _How could I forget? He barged in during your striptease. Oh that was a mood killer._ " Amirah huffed, " _Wait. He spilt coffee on you four times on the same uniform? How the fuck did he accomplish that?_ "

"Well he didn't spill coffee on me four times but he was the cause of half of them, the first and the last, the other two were indirect." Erica answered, "The first one was when I was just finished my breakfast, it was just a little spill nothing much."

" _So how no better question, why is he still in your squadron?_ " Amirah asked.

"Because it will take three weeks for the next batch of pilots to finish their training and they are pilots I don't know how they will act, so better the devil I know than the devil I don't know. However if push comes to shove, I am going to send him on the next shuttle out of my squadron." Erica said, "But besides Joker's hijinks. There was some good news."

" _Oh, that is interesting_ " Amirah said. " _What is the good news that you got for me?_ "

"Well, you probably won't get the deployment order. But the Covenant have attacked Sigma Octanus Four, or at least attempted to. However, due to the efforts of just one ship, the Covenant didn't do their normal MO when they arrived in-system." Erica said.

" _You're joking right? I mean, what sort of ship was it and what sort of ships did the Covenant have?"_ Amirah asked.

"I wish I was joking. But the ship that performed the maneuver was one of those new _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyers and the Covenant, well they had two Frigates, one Heavy Destroyer, a 1200 meter long Cruiser, and a _DDS_ class Carrier." Erica said and having to hold back a laugh at the incredulous look that Amirah gave her. "I know, but anyway the ship in question was the _Iroquois_ , commanded by Commander Jacob Keyes and the maneuver that they pulled is starting to become known as the "Keyes Loop." anyway what he did was that he moved at Emergency Speed toward the Frigates, after they fired Plasma Torpedoes, he waited until the last moment and fired his ship's emergency thrusters, dodging the things, before that though he launched a nuke in opposite direction, he then turned toward the Destroyer and the Plasma followed, he grazed that the thing and moments later it ate two plasma torpedoes dealing heavy damage to the ship, he then fired a shit ton of a missiles at it, destroying it. Then the _Iroquois_ entered a tight orbit, doing a slingshot maneuver around Sigma Octanus Four, he then detonated the nuke and knocked the shielding out for both frigates and then destroyed them with one MAC round apiece. The Cruiser then did a tactical slipspace jump and was destroyed by a massed missile and secondary battery salvo which resulted in the Carrier _running away_ , although on the way out she was intercepted by the _Gettysburg_ and the _Allegiance_ ; it went about as well as you think it would." Erica said.

" _Holy shit, th-th-that's incredible! One ship beating off_ five _Covenant Warships, and not small ones either! Holy goddamned!"_ Amirah said in awe.

"Yep, and I heard that got him bumped up to Captain." Erica said. "Which is something I think he deserves, after all his destroyer was barely damaged in the whole thing."

" _Damn, I would love to meet that guy but that's impossible because one, distance and two, I got replacements to break in, bloody hell, half of them barely know the difference between a Warthog and a Scorpion, and the other half think they are all big shots._ " Amirah sighed, " _I swear this batch is the worst I have seen yet._ "

"Well, look on the bright side, none of them are accident prone." Erica said.

" _Thank god for that or I will have to see my goddamn medic. Fucking sadistic bitch, I swear if she loves it when I get wounded. There are times I would rather go to Yoshika's medical station to get patched up then go to my own medic._ " Amirah shuddered at the thought of her own medic. Erica couldn't help but crack a pitiful smile at Amirah's dilemma.

"Well, at least she does her job well so there is that." Erica reminded.

" _I guess that's true but I still am not liking the fact that she gets so sadistic with me and me alone. Makes me wonder whether I pissed her off but can't remember it._ " Amirah said.

"Maybe she just a different way of caring for you." Erica said.

" _Which makes me all the more grateful that when I got hit in my right eye it was before I was in the ODST, I shudder at the thought of what ideas she could have while fixing my eye._ " Amirah shuddered at the very thought and so did Erica. " _So I heard that something is happening over there in Sigma Octanus?_ "

"How did you know about that?" Erica asked.

" _I have friends in high places, Erica, how do you think my gifts get to you in short notice?_ " Amirah grinned but just then Erica noticed a blue flash in Amirah's left eye before a pulse of blue light flowed out through the left side of her face.

"Amirah, are you alright?" Erica asked.

" _Huh? I am fine, Erica._ " Amirah answered, surprised by Erica's sudden concern.

"Are you sure, I saw half your face pulse blue." Erica asked.

" _Oh, that was my neuroi core undergoing maintenance, Aisyah said that she needed to do some checks on it._ " Amirah explained.

"Oh thank god, I thought you were sick with something." Erica said. Erica remembered a few days after Amirah told her about the rest of the 501st showing up, she told her about the two blue neuroi cores inside of her thanks to a nearly botched operation in Siberia. This was something that Erica was quite surprised and relieved for two reasons that Amirah had not one but two neuroi cores in her and only now did Erica hear about it and secondly that Amirah had decided to tell Erica about her condition which told Erica that Amirah trusted her enough which was an incredible feat given how the ODST was very secretive and like to keep things to herself. Erica remembered a instance when back in their old lives when a number of Britannian officers showed up in Dover and asked to be let in. Everyone was surprised and confused by their arrival and only when Amirah came back from Portsmouth did we find out that they were all Amirah's family which included seven siblings, that was a big family.

"Ah, so how is Aisyah?" Erica asked.

" _She's bit busy at the moment but she says she is doing just fine_ " Amirah said while a black hand with glowing marking pop out of Amirah's left shoulder giving a thumbs up, " _As you can see for yourself._ "

"That's good to hear." Erica said while trying to stifle a yawn.

" _Looks like you need your sleep._ " Amirah said before she yawned as well, " _So am I. Damn, just remembered, I need to get the boys up and early tomorrow got a 50 miles march planned and I like hearing the new boys groan but I doubt it as you know how the ODST works_ "

"True, well I suppose we should called it a night then." Erica said.

" _Yeah, let's get some sleep. Good night my love._ " Amirah gave a small smile before she cut the video feed but not the voice chat.

"Good night." Erica said as she turned off her tablet while her lover did the same. But both had a sinking feeling that tomorrow was not going to be an ordinary day for one.

 **Twelve Hours Later**

 **Onboard UNSC** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

" _Sir."_ Dominique's voice over the intercom woke Captain Keyes. As the Lieutenant continued speaking, Keyes sat up and ran a hand over his face then glanced at the brass clock that was on the wall over his bunk and muttered a curse, he had certainly overslept. _Dammit, going to have to apologize to Dominique for that._ He thought. _"We got an incoming fleet-wide transmission from the_ Leviathan _, Alpha priority channel."_ Dominique continued.

He opened the proper comm line for the Alpha Priority channel and Vice Admiral Stanforth appeared in the screen on his desk. _"Listen up, ladies and gentlemen: we've got a substantial number of Covenant ships massing on the edge of the system. We estimate between ten to twenty ships."_ He said and an additional screen popped up, showing the all-too-familiar silhouettes of Covenant Frigates, _RPV_ class Light Destroyers and _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyers, and -Keyes's stomach lurched one of their big boys- a single _ORS_ class Heavy Cruiser appeared as ghostly radar smears.

 _Oh joy, this is going to be fun._ Keyes thought as the Vice Admiral continuedspeaking. _"We're going to remain where we are, there's no need for us to charge in their all guns blazing and to allow those ugly bastards to take a shortcut through Slipspace and undercut us. Make your ships ready for battle in all-respects. We currently have additional probes gathering more data, I'll update you when we know more. Stanforth out."_ The screen went black.

Keyes snapped on the intercom, he needed to know what sort of condition his ship was in. "Lieutenant Hall, what is our repair and refit status?" he asked.

" _Sir."_ she replied. _"It could be better, our engines are operational, however only with the backup cooling system. Our reactors have been repaired to the point where we can heat them to fifty-five percent but any higher and we'll risk having the reactor melt on us. Fusion Archer and nuclear ordnance resupply is complete and the MAC guns as well as the secondary battery guns as well as our Point-Defense System are also fully operational. Repairs to the lower decks have just begun, but repairs to the."_ she reported and Keyes and to withhold a sigh. The _Iroquois_ was no were nearly fully combat ready, although she could do long-range combat, but they just weren't in any shape to get involved in a brawl.

"Inform the dockmaster to pull his men out. We're departing the _Cradle_ to join up with the fleet. Once we're clear have our reactors heated to fifty-five percent, sound General Quarters." Keyes ordered as he stood up, buttoned his uniform up and walked out of his quarters sealing the pressure doors. Throughout the ship, the GQ alarm started blaring. Soon it was going to be time to cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war.

 **0600 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Sigma Ocanus IV**

 **Grid Thirteen by Twenty-Four**

"Faster Marine! Faster!" Corporal Harland bellowed, rain was coming down in sheets, and in the distance thunder boomed, but twenty meters ahead lay the all-too-familiar and all-too-welcome outline of an LRV. "You want to die in the goddamned _mud_ , Marine?" he shouted as himself, Private Flincher, Private Walker, and the gravely injured Private Cochran piled into the enormous M12 Warthog, with Flincher diving into the driver's seat, Walker getting into the passenger's seat, and Harland setting Cochran down in the bed of the Warthog, and then having himself clambered onto the back and strapped himself into the gunner's position.

"Hell fucking no, sir!" Flincher shouted as he toggled the ignition and the enormous Caterpillar six cylinder 12.0 Liter, 650-horsepower liquid-cooled Hydrogen-injected Internal Combustion Engine roared to life and then the young private stomped on the accelerator depressing it all the way to the floorboard. The engine let out a powerful high-pitched roar and the tyres spun in the streambed, suddenly they achieved traction and the massive vehicle shot-forward fishtailing through the gravel, throwing an enormous rooster tail of water into the air from its tyres and then the thing was across the bank and onto the sandy shore.

Despite being strapped in, Harland held onto the massive M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun for dear life as the Warthog bounded forward. That's when something moved in the brush behind him and several blue energy blasts lanced out from said brush after the fleeing Warthog. In response, Harland fired the massive 12.7x99mm three-barreled chain gun. The sustained roar of "Old Faithful" was deafening but against whatever the hell was shooting at them it was pure unbridled overkill, powerful 12.7x99mm APEI, HEAPI, and APIT rounds screamed out of the barrel at a rate of nine-hundred rounds per minute with a three foot long tongue of flame being emitted by the weapon: ferns, bushes, vines, trees exploded and splintered as gunfire slammed into it and tore through them like a massive scythe, the sporadic plasma blasts ceased coming after them … for nothing no longer moved through foliage.

Fincher sent the beast they were in bouncing along the shore, the lightweight roof that covered the driver and passenger side of compartment providing some help against the rain, when it was closed but in this case it was open, but even with the windshield wipers going full speed and the headlights on he still had to bob his head from side-to-side in order to try and see through the downpour. "Corporal! We're sitting ducks in this goddamned gorge!" Fincher yelled as the Warthog hit a fallen tree and caught two meters of air before slamming back into the mud, it's fully independent swing arm suspension cushioning the blow, but it still jarred everyone in the Hog and splattered thick red mud everywhere. "We have to get out of this fucking hole and back onto the ridge, sir!"

Harland swore and looked for a way out of this godforsaken river gorge, Fincher was right. This place was a death trap, something like a Revenant could effortlessly ambush them in this place and they'd have barely any warning about it, hell their first clue would probably be when a plasma mortar round from something like that caught them in the goddamned side.

"Walker!" Harland bellowed and reached down and shook the young private who was sitting in the passenger seat. But he didn't respond, instead he clutched their Jackhammer launcher with the last set of rockets that they had with a white knuckled death grip, his eyes staring blankly straight ahead in a thousand-yard stare. The heavy-weapons specialist hadn't said a thing ever since this message had gone FUBAR thirty minutes ago in a big way; however the Corporal prayed that Walker would snap out of it and soon, he was already down a man and the absolute last thing that he needed right now was for his heavy-weapons specialist to be braincase.

Private Cochran lay at Harland's feet, cradling his stomach with blood smeared hands. The man had taken one hell of a hit during the ambush that had resulted in the mission going completely and utterly FUBAR. The alien weapon responsible had been a goddamned Needler, a single round from one of those fucking things had managed to slice through Cochran's Titanium-C torso plate and then the outer armored bodysuit of his Wolverine and into his flesh and then exploding several seconds after it did so. The man's insides were meat, both Walker and Fincher had filled him up with biofoam and taped him up - hell they had even succeeded in stopping the bleeding ‐ but if they couldn't get him to a medic and soon, he was a goner plain and simple.

But that wasn't entirely true either, they had nearly all been goners and wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for a little luck. The squad had left with two other squads in a formation of two Cougar All-Terrain Infantry Fighting Vehicles carrying two of the squads while Fincher's squad was split-up into three Warthogs from Firebase Bravo two hours ago, hell the satellite images showed that their path was clear all the way to the target area. _Clear, yeah right; my fucking ass it was clear. We probably walked face first into fucking Covenant company at least._ Harland thought bitterly. Hell, Lieutenant McCasky had even said that their mission was a "milk run." as if. There objective was that they were supposed to complete in grid thirteen by twenty-four was to set up motion sensors, just see what was their and then get back. "A simple snoop job." the ell-tee had called it.

However nobody had told McCasky was that the satellites were having serious trouble penetrating the rain and jungle of this swampball of a planet and thus they had been basically going blind. Plus if the Lieutenant had thought about it just like Corporal Harland was really thinking about it now, he would have figured that something was wrong with sending three squads on a mere "milk run."

Goddamnit all to hell, the squad wasn't green either. They knew how to kill Grunts and that when they massed by the hundreds to call for either artillery or air support. Plus they knew how to take down other species of the Covenant, even the trickiest of the bastards, the Jackals, you had to flank those monsters and engage them with snipers. But none of _that_ experience had prepared them whatsoever for this mission, it had been the first time they had encountered Hunters, which while they had heard about them his squad had never encountered them until now. _Nothing, had I known that we were going to run into motherfucking Hunters, I would have liked to have some Light Tank support._ Harland thought bitterly.

As if to rub it in their face, they had done everything right as well goddamnit. The ell-tee had even succeeded in getting their 'Hogs and Cougars within five klicks down the streambed before terrain became too steep and slippery for both the LRVs and ATIFVs to safely traverse. They had been forced to hump it the rest of the way their on foot, moving soft and silently nearly crawling the rest of the way their, he bitterly reflected on what had happened he glanced at his mission clock … forty three minutes ago.

 _Flashback_

"Wow, would you look at that! It's beautiful." Someone remarked as the three squads of marines entered the clearing where they were supposed to set up their motion sensors. It was true, the depression wasn't some mud-filled sinkhole, but instead it was something else entirely.

An astoundingly pretty grotto, with a large waterfall splashing into it from a cliffside, carved into the face of cliff were arches that while they were extremely weathered but nonetheless looked amazing. Along the edge of the pool scattered about here and there were paving stones with these strange geometric carvings in them. Harland stooped down, curious, he was about to run his hand over one of the pavers when a voice came over the comm.

" _Harland, take your team and fallback. I want you to set up some motion trackers were they got a nice clear line of sight straight up into the sky. That way if any fliers head our way we'll know about it."_ McClasky ordered.

"Yessir! Come on Fincher, Walker, Cochran! Let's get these motion sensors setup." Harland ordered and he lead his team back, they had just reached a spot where they could set up a motion sensor when Harland heard this weird sounding _whump_ over the sound of the rain splattering against the leaves and ferns as well as the roar of the waterfall.

 _What was that noise?_ Harland thought.

He got his answer exactly three point two seconds later. An enormous bone-shattering _wham_ shook the area and the shockwave sent Harland and his team into the mud. _"Contacts! Contacts! Dozens of them!"_ Someone shouted as the whine of plasma weapons began to duel with the harsh and rapid _thud thud thud_ of automatic weapons fire, with a harsh _wham_ a fragmentation grenade detonated, followed by several more.

"Back to the Ell-tee's position! Triple time, go!" Harland bellowed and himself and his team ran full tilt back to where Lieutenant McClasky and his men had been. What they had found was horrifying, the ell-tee and his men … simply no longer existed. In their place was a large crater, crackling with heat and the thick red mud that had made up the ground had fused and formed glass awfully reminiscent of the effects that Covenant glassing had on planets; all that remained of the men themselves was a few chunked and burning and a few pieces of carbonized skeleton.

"S-s-sir! WHAT'S THAT?!" Walker screamed as an absolutely enormous figure, no, _two_ enormous figures lumbered toward them through the heavy mist. One of them lifted an arm and a the sickly green glow of a regenerating plasma weapon quickly formed. "HUNTERS! Omega three, omega three, omega three! Execute, _now_!" Harland screamed over the all hands freq for the squads.

Omega-three, that was the UNSC Emergency Code that was used during combat operations. It's was only to be used when the situation had turned incredibly grim and that UNSC forces needed to break and run from the battlefield or otherwise they'd get massacred.

Harland and his four marines fell back, no, they sprinted away from the enormous walking alien tanks, firing their rifles blindly and wildly as they did so. Which discharged their plasma weapons, causing two more enormous detonations to rock the jungle and causing men and women to scream in pain and terror. The barking and yapping of Grunts as well as the guttural squawks of Skirmishers resounded through the air, crystalline needles and green energy bolts filled the air. Needler shots impaled themselves into trees and the underbrush and exploded as the Grunts chased after the marines firing their weapons, mowing down the jungle as they did so.

Harland fumbled with but managed to load his underbarrel launcher. "Chew on this you _bastards_!" Harland screamed and fired a 40mm M567 'Iron Dagger' Smart Micro-RPG. The round leaped away from the launcher and homed-in on the Grunt -that Harland had using his HUD somehow managed to lock-on too- leading the pack of alien cannon fodder, an Ultra, the round impacted and then exploded, blowing methane breathing bastard to bits, igniting his methane tank and setting off his grenades, creating a brief chain-reaction that caused everything in the forward ranks of aliens to go up. Aliens howled in pain and rage, but it bought the marines time to try and put some distance between them and the enemy. Another detonation, a big one from the Hunter's assault cannons resounded behind them and screams began to filter over the comms.

It worked for all of about ninety seconds before a new sound filled the air. The high-pitched wailing scream of a Covenant Banshee flier, just hearing the thing caused the marines to dive into the mud to avoid being spotted and subsequently strafed, still the thing didn't spot them thankfully. But as they scrambled to their feet they saw that the aliens were less than a hundred meters away and already firing on them.

A crystalline needle impaled itself into Cochran's torso, somehow managing to bury itself first through his torso plate and then slicing through the Titanium nanocomposite that made up his outer armored bodysuit like paper. "FUCK! That fucking h-" The private in question had began to roar when suddenly the thing detonated.

Cochran dropped like a rock without a sound. His biomonitor screeched in alarm and Harland glanced at it and cursed. He was already in shock! "MAN DOWN!" Fincher screamed as he charged to protect Cochran from the charging Grunts and Skirmishers which surged toward the downed Marine with intent to tear him limb from limb.

"Walker! Come on!" Harland yelled and together the two ran up to where Fincher was, their MA5B Assault Rifles blazing. Powerful 8.6x64mm rounds flew out of the barrels at a rate of fifteen rounds per second, spent casing flew from the bolt assemblies of the rifles at an astounding rate and fell into the thick mud. The baying and barking of the Grunts that were rushing the fall Cochran with the intent to tear him apart quickly turned into screams of terror and pain as they ran into a wall of tungsten-carbide cored lead. Harland fumbled with another Micro-RPG, locked into it the launcher and fired it.

The 40mm Thermobaric weapon worked as designed, creating an large heat and pressure wave that hammered in the chest of the Marines and utterly silenced the baying of the Grunts and guttural squawks of the Skirmishers ceased, around the point of impact trees lay toppled and fires crackled.

"We need to get the hell out of here! Fincher, Walker! Patch Cochran up! We got to move now!" Harland shouted as in the distance another detonation shook the trees and rumbled in their chests. The Assault Weapon fire nearly ceased after that fifth blast, the Covenant were simply beginning to mop up the remaining Marines, poor bastards. By some goddamned miracle the two Marines managed to patch up Cochran and stop the bleeding. "Come on! We got to evac out of here!" Harland said as he with a slight grunt of exertion picked up the critically wounded Marine and they double-timed it through the jungle as fast as they could, stealth not a requirement.

As they burst out of a treeline, Fincher said some of the most beautiful words that Harland had ever heard. "Look sir! There's a Warthog!" He shouted pointing to the beast. "Mount up! We're heading back to Firebase Bravo!" Harland barked and the Marines sprinted towards the machine.

Now they just had to get the fuck out of here, at least that's what they were attempting to do. "Over there!" Fincher cried and pointed to a clearing of trees that they were approaching. "That's gotta lead up to the ridge!" He barked.

"Go! The faster we get out of this hell hole, the happier I will be!" Harland shouted before cursing creatively as Fincher hit the e-brake and spun the wheel, the Hog seemingly drifted through it's turn and straightened out with it's nose pointed right up the path, all the while the driver whooped "Yahooooooo!" the moment that the nose got pointed toward the path, Fincher stomped on the gas and Warthog's engine roared like a Tyrannosaur and the machine bounded forward, suddenly the the thing hit a rock went airborne before landing in the jungle loam and then rocketing up the path. Thankfully for all onboard the LRV, Fincher had some incredible reflexes and it showed; despite the fact that they were moving at fifty miles per hour, Fincher easily dodged several trees and they burst out of the path and onto the ridgeline.

"Jesus fuck, that was way too close for comfort." Harland said, opening his visor, which slid into his helmet and out of sight. Allowing him to take in some deep breaths of the jungle air in order to calm his nerves.

"Fincher, pull over and try to raise the Firebase on the narrowband. Requesting immediate Medevac and extraction." Harland ordered, his voice shaking slightly.

"Yes sir." Fincher said his own voice wavering as well. Which considering what they had just gone through? It wasn't surprising, he glanced at Walker who was _still_ catatonic, and shook his head. In the meantime Harland stooped to check on Cochran, during their frantic racing to get out of that gorge and onto this ridge, the man had grown considerably pale. _Shit, he's going to bleed out._ Harland thought as he removed the man's helmet and checked his pulse, by some, while he was doing that Cochran's eyes fluttered open. "Are we back at base yet, Corporal?" he asked.

"Almost son." Harland replied, damnit his wounded man looked like a corpse. He placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll get you patched up as soon as we get back to base." He said.

One thing that Harland knew was that Firebase Bravo had Pelican Dropships of both the transport, medical, and gunship variety. If they could get a dropship out here to pick them up and get them to the field hospital at Alpha Headquarters or better yet to the Navy docs on one of the ships in orbit Cochran would have a chance, albeit a slim one for survival. For a brief moment Harland was dazzled with the idea of hot meals, clean sheets, pretty navy nurses, and a meter of armor between himself and the Covenant.

"Sir, there's nothing but static on the radio link." Fincher said, breaking through Harland's revierve.

"Damnit, maybe the radio got hit. You know those needler rounds when they detonate that they throw micro-shrapnel and considering that the regular needle rounds can penetrate our armor, we all likely have some of that stuff in us." Harland said and Fincher muttered a curse before examining his forearms, which even with the armored bodysuit on appeared to be rather muscular. "Great" he said.

"Fincher, try the Warthog's radio. We know for a fact that it hasn't been hit." Harland said.

"Yessir!" Fincher said and after only a minute looked back at Harland. "Still nothing sir. The problem is likely on their end…" Fincher said turning in his before trailing off and paling.

 _This ain't good._ Harland thought as he barked "Move out, now!"

The moment that Fincher heard "move" his foot was on the gas and the Hog's spun for several seconds before finding traction and then bounding forward. As they did so the terrain appeared to become more and more familiar, that's when Harland saw it in the mud, two sets of Cougar tracks and four sets of Warthog tracks. Yes, they were on the right path, they followed this ridge they'd back at Firebase Bravo within ten minutes maybe twelve tops. However a sinking feeling of horrible dread was building in his gut, that what they were going to find wasn't going to be pleasant.

Fincher gunned the engine, the Warthog bounded forward and crested the ridge and then began going down the other side, but Fincher hit the brakes to stop the Hog going flipping.

There was extremely heavy haze in the valley below and were it not for that haze. Harland would have been able to see everything. A lush carpet of jungle, the river meandering through it, and on the far set of hills a clearing with razor wire, fixed gun and SAM emplacements, and pre-fab structures that made up Firebase Bravo and safety.

There were three whole goddamned Regiments down their as well as numerous support units, while the Divisional Headquarters section was at Alpha Headquarters naturally. Over ten-thousand Marines were camped down there and the Firebase's location had been chosen so that they could safely store their munitions and bunk down. Surrounding the firebase was a ring of motion and seismic sensors so nothing could sneak up on them from the ground while radar motion sensors were linked to SAM emplacements which could blot anything that the Covenant had short of a warship from the skies effortlessly. Along the far ridge was a road that led to the city of Côte d'Azur which was three kilometers down the road.

Then the sun pierced the haze, and Corporal Alexander James Harland saw to his horror that everything had changed. The haze wasn't haze or even fog at all, instead it was _smoke_. Large thick columns of smoke rose from the valley and the lush jungle that carpeted the valley was gone. The valley floor was cratered and glittered dully in the sun like glass and covered in smoldering charcoal. The _entire_ fucking hill where Firebase Bravo had been was _gone_ literally flattened to the ground, the surrounding hills were covered with a cracked glassy coating. Harland engaged the 10x zoom function on his helmet and instantly wished he hadn't. In the skies where dozens of Covenant fliers, numerous Banshees and several flights of _Moroi_ s flitted about. A massive Scarab walker and dozens of Locusts walkers lumbered about, also there was dozens of Wraiths of both the mortar, anti-tank, and even anti-air variants as well as Ghosts. Elites, Brutes, Jackals, Skirmishers, and Grunts searched for survivors among the ruins, hundreds if not thousands of bodies wearing Marine green lay scattered on the ground, many in various states of dismemberment, more Marines his brothers and sisters in arms either ran for cover or in brazen acts of defiance stood their ground, firing their assault rifles only to be cut down ruthlessly by energy weapons fire, others lay on the ground wounded some were screaming and others seemed resigned to their fates, a few were trying to crawl away from aliens.

"What do you got sir?" Fincher asked and Harland's jaw slackened in shock and horror. This couldn't be happening, the entire 99th "Iron Force" Marine Division was completely wiped out.

An enormous figure moved with a lumbering grace that caught Harland's eyes which were now watering, distorting what he was seeing, he opened his helmet visor, wiped his eyes and then closed his visor and hit the 10x zoom function. What he saw astounded him, the thing was huge, covered in thick plates of armor that was reminiscent of medieval plate mail armor, it had a long set of spikes on it's back, while one arm seemingly melded into a massive shield, he couldn't see what the other arm had however. But the Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, hell even the goddamned _Elites and Brutes_ gave the monster a wide berth; Harland realized as the thing raised its other arm which appeared to be one big gun that it was the same thing he had seen in grid thirteen by twenty-four.

That massive arm cannon discharged a singular green bolt of plasma that streaked forth and slammed into what appeared to be remains of a prefab bunker and it promptly exploded.

Even from this distance, Harland could hear the screams of the men and women who had been hiding their. "Jesus." he breathed as he figuratively slammed the visor out of it's 10x function. "We are bugging the _fuck_ out right the fuck now!" Harland hissed.

Fincher turned around in his seat, confusion written all over his face. "But-" he began before Harland cut him off. "There's nothing we can do! They're all fucking dead! So turn this goddamned beast around right this fucking moment!" Harland snarled.

Walker whimpered and started rocking back and forth in his seat as Fincher gunned the engine and turned the Warthog around. "We'll be dead too, unless you move." Harland growled to Walker before speaking up. "Besides, we have already gotten lucky once today, I don't want to push it." He said.

"Right, some luck we've had." Fincher grumbled as he guided the Warthog back down the ridge and onto the embankment before guiding the beast back into the streambed. The powerful LRV kicked up a massive rooster tail of water and gravel as it sped forward at it's top speed of nearly eighty miles per hour. "Follow the river" Harland told him. "It'll lead us straight to HQ." he said.

"Right!" Fincher responded and then a shadow passed overhead and moments later a demonic wailing filled the air. Harland's head snapped up and he screamed "Move it!" as three stubby-winged Covenant Banshee fliers looped around and dove toward them.

Harland opened fire from a range of over a mile. A several foot long tongue of flame erupted from the weapon as it spewed fifty-caliber death, tracers reached out angrily toward the Banshees. Two of which obviously piloted by more experienced pilots took evasive action while the third waited to take evasive action just long enough to get a shot from it's heavy weapon off, a glowing green blob of energy throwing off sparks; but it cost the Banshee driver his life, at least forty maybe even as many as sixty or seventy 12.7x99mm slugs of various types slammed into the craft and ripped its chitinous armor apart and causing one of it's anti gravity pods on its wingtips to explode, the craft went into a violent corkscrew and held together for four and half revolutions before exploding, blue-purple ball of fire erupting as it's fuel lines were ripped open and ignited, turning the craft into confetti. However with a lethal Fuel Rod Cannon shot racing toward them Fincher hit the brakes and the Warthog fish-tailed nearly rolling over as it skidded, an enormous detonation erupted in front of them that jerked the front of the Hog up ten degrees in the air before slamming back down. The moment the front wheels hit the ground Fincher gunned the engine.

"Walker, use those Jackhammers!" Harland cried as the Warthog roared through the cloud of steam created by the Covenant Fuel Rod Cannon shot. Walker huddled in his seat, hunched over.

The other two Banshees opened fire with their powerful plasma cannons. Bolts of blue fire streaked toward the Hog and crashed into the river around them. Instantly flash-boiling water and via extremely rapid thermal expansion causing the rocks on the bottom of the stream to explode, pelting the hog with rock shards. Harland tried frantically to hit the Banshees, but the LAAG while it was rather accurate, it simply wasn't accurate enough to land enough hits to down the enemy fliers, of course it was only reasonably accurate when the Warthog was sitting still and not when Fincher was driving at full speed and thus causing them to bounce all over the goddamned place.

"Walker!" He cried frantically as held down on the triggers, a long and continuous stream of hot-shell casings flying from the ejection port on the weapon. "We're all going to _die_ if you don't fire those Jackhammers!"

He frantically kept on trying to hit the Banshees, but they were just too damn nimble for him to get a sustained burst on target. Harland would've ordered Fincher to grab the missiles from Walker, but that would've required stopping so he could do so, they did that. Well that would've been signing their own death warrants. They needed a way out of this mess, if they could get into the jungle then they would be safe from those fliers, Harland glanced at the river banks on each side and cursed, they were too steep for the Warthog to handle. Which meant they were stuck in this stream with absolutely jack all for cover.

More plasma landed in the river, closer this time. Suddenly the Warthog swerved and then an Fuel Rod Cannon blast hit nearby, close enough that it alarmingly sent the LRV up onto two wheels. Fincher, cursing and shouting somehow managed to keep them from flipping over, regardless the heat from the blast caused blisters to prick the skin of everyone in the vehicle.

"Walker do _something_!" Harland roared as he kept firing the rotary machine gun, his arms were getting numb from all the shooting that he was doing. However, Harland knew in the back of his mind that Walker wasn't going to snap out of it, that this was it.

More plasma impacted the water, this time right in the front of the Warthog, resulting in more blisters from the heat pricking everyone's skin. Thankfully they'd been in water, if they hadn't those plasma shots probably would've caused the tires, despite being composed of carbon nanotube skeleton single units, to melt and likely would've flash-fried them all. Harland knew that once the plasma cannons on those Banshees recycled their energy that their next burst was going to hit them for sure.

Suddenly a burst of heat and a plume smoke without any warning erupted next to him. For several seconds, Harland thought that the Covenant Banshee pilots had finally hit their marks - that he was dead and just waiting for his brain to figure that part out. He screamed incoherently and kept his fingers jammed on the butterfly triggers of the M41.

That is until suddenly the closer of the two Banshees just simply exploded. Pieces of craft dribbled downward, the main body of the flier simply unrecognizable. The thing slammed hard into embankment and exploded.

Harland's breathing hitched suddenly in his chest. They weren't dead, the Hog hadn't been hit? But, the Warthog hadn't stopped so Fincher hadn't fired the missile. Who had?

"Might want to duck, Corporal." A voice said, the absolute _last_ voice he had been expecting.

Harland turned and saw something he would never forget. Their was Cochran, holding the Jackhammer Launcher with one hand, hefting the heavy weapon on his shoulder while his other hand was clutching his stomach. He smiled with blood stained lips, as he pivoted to track the other Banshee. He ducked and a moment later, the second Jackhammer missile whooshed over his head.

Then to Harland's further amazement Cochran laughed, coughing up blood and foam, tears shone in his eyes but he couldn't tell if they were from pain or mirth. Then he collapsed backwards and the smoking, spent Jackhammer Launcher slipped from his hands.

Behind them, the remaining Banshee exploded, turning into a ball of fire and shrapnel. It's remains, quite literally Banshee bits fluttered down into the jungle.

"Two more klicks!" Fincher shouted. "Hang onto your butts!" He cranked the wheel and the Warthog swerved toward the riverbank, bounded up and then the beast roared up a hill and then down the other side, before finally transitioning from off road to pavement. Harland checked Cochran's pulse and found that to his amazement, that while it was weak it was their.

He then glanced at Walker and saw that he hadn't moved, his eyes squeezed shut. Harland's first impulse was to shoot him dead right then and there, that god-fucking-damned, goldbricking, cowardly motherfucker had nearly gotten them all killed. No, Harland shook his head, he was amazed that he hadn't locked up himself. One nasty as fuck ambush, a hair-raising escape, discovering that Firebase Bravo and the entirety of the 99th Marine Division was _gone_ , and then that running gun battle with those three Banshee fliers. It was a miracle he hadn't locked up, looking back on it.

As the Hog approached Alpha Headquarters, however, Harland's stomach sank as he spotted fires and plumes of smoke coming from the horizon and their destination. As the Hog drove past where the first armed checkpoint should have been, Harland realized that they'd been hit too. The guardhouse and prefab bunkers that had made up the checkpoint had been blasted away, in the mud were thousands of tracks from Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, and Elites.

That's when Harland spotted something that made his heart soar, around a piece of granite the size of a house was a ring of sandbags and behind said sandbags where several Marines, two of them waved them over as the Hog approached.

Once the Warthog skidded to a stop, two Marines stood and saluted. Harland jumped off the back of the hog. One of the Marines had been through the ringer, he was missing his helmet, plus his head was bandaged, and he had a patch over his left eye. His face was streaked with soot.

"Jesus Christ sir!" The Marine said. "It's damn good to see some new friendly guys around." he continued as he approached the 'Hog. "You guys wouldn't happen to have a working radio in that thing wouldn't ya?"

"We're not sure if we do have a radio that works or not." Harland replied before looking around. "Still where's the HMIC, and more to the point what the hell happened here?" he asked.

"The Covenant hit us damn hard and fast, sir. They came in with tanks, Specters, air support, and thousands of those little Grunt guys. They glassed the main barracks, Command office, and they damn near got the munitions bunker as well." He looked away as his singular eye glazed over, he then shook his head and finished his report. "We by some fucking miracle managed to get our shit together and drove them off, though and trust us we're not sure how either. That happened roughly an hour ago. I think we've killed everything that isn't human, but I am not sure." he said.

"Still who's the HMIC Private? I've got a critically wounded man that needs evac on double and I need to make my report." Harland asked.

"Sorry sir, the hospital was the first thing that the Covenant hit. Saw it myself, they had a trio of _Moroi_ s come in and level that place with multiple five-hundred kilo antimatter bombs. It's nothing but a crater now, sir. As for who's the HIMC, I believe you're the ranking officer here sir." The Marine said somewhat bitterly when he spoke about the hospital.

"Well, that's just _perfect_." Harland muttered.

"Sir, we've got five guys down by the munitions bunker, trying to retrieve weapons and ammunition." The private said, jerking his head in the direction of several plumes of thick black smoke and wavering heat. "They're in fire-fighting suits so that they won't burn up, it's one hell of a blaze down there sir."

"Understood," Harland said before turning to Fincher. "Try the radio again. See if you can get a SATCOM connection up with someone in orbit. We need extraction and reinforcements, both would be preferable." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Fincher said, before trying the radio again. The wounded private looked at Harland. "Any hope of getting aid from Firebase Bravo, sir?" he asked.

"Negative on that. The Covenant hit them too. Save it looks like they went in with everything and the goddamned kitchen sink. There's Covenant crawling all over the place where that joint used to be, including a Scarab. Firebase Bravo is completely gone." Harland replied and the private slumped, bracing himself with his BR55HB SR.

"Corporal get over here, the SATCOM is good to go! I got the UNSC _Leviathan_ on the horn!" Fincher announced as he went to hand the Corporal a headset and Harland allowed a slight sigh of relief, finally some good news.

"This is Corporal Harland," he said into the microphone. "The Covenant have hit both Firebase Bravo and Alpha HQ and wiped them out. The enemy has been repulsed from Alpha site, but our losses were nearly one hundred percent. We have wounded here, some critical. We need immediate evac, I repeat: we need immediate evac on the double." He finished.

" _Roger Corporal, your situation is understood. Be advised, evac is not possible at the moment. We've got problems of our own up here."_ There was a burst of static that garbled out nearly everything before the signal came back. _"Help is on the way."_

The channel promptly went dead after that.

Harland looked at Fincher. "Check the transceiver." He ordered grimly.

Fincher ran a diagnostic on the radio, which after included first running the diagnostic, followed by a shake of the head and hitting the stupid thing and then running the diagnostic again. "It's good sir. We're getting a ping from SATCOM. The problem is on their end." he said after licking his lips.

Harland really didn't want to think about what could be causing the trouble for the fleet. He'd seen far too many planets glassed from orbit, he didn't want to die. Not like that at least, if he was going to die, he wanted to die fighting the Covenant on the ground, not looking up helplessly at some Covenant warship.

He turned to the Marines, _his_ Marines now that were in the bunker. "They said that help is on the way boys, so relax." he said before looking up at the sky. "They better send an entire goddamned Army down here." he muttered.

A handful of other Marines arrived in the bunker with ammunition, some rifle, an entire crate of frag grenades, even a Jackhammer launcher and a couple of reloads for the powerful thing as well.

"Sir, if you want me too. I can take a few men and the Hog to try and get some of the heavier weapons out of that munitions bunker." Fincher said.

"Do it, the more firepower we have at our disposal to defend ourselves the better off we are." Harland ordered and the young Private nodded before taking a couple of men and the Hog to try and get some of the heavier gear. They also filled Cochran with more biofoam and bandaged him up, but the man had slipped into coma and his chances of survival was looking grim.

Extreme distance explosions split the sky as the remaining Marines hunkered down in the bunker. Finally for the first time since 0600 hours that morning, Walker spoke up. "So … what do we do now sir?" He asked.

Harland didn't turn toward man, he was in the process of laying another warm blanket on Cochran. "I dunno, can you fight?" He asked.

"I think so, sir. Also, I am sorry for locking-up back their." Walker replied, shame evident in his voice.

"I don't blame you for locking up son. Engaging Hunters, as we found out is never easy. Particularly when the fuckers get the drop on ya. As for being able to fight, that's good enough for me. Get out there and take watch." Harland ordered and Walker nodded, the man grabbed an MA5B, while Harland pulled out a cigarette lit it, took a puff, and then handed it to Walker.

The man stood up shakily and walked outside. He had been out there for maybe two minutes at most before he spoke up. "Sir! Incoming dropship! It's one of ours!" he shouted.

Harland grabbed smoke grenades and flares then ran outside, squinting at the horizon, he spotted a dot that was rapidly growing in the darkening skies and heard the all too familiar roar of the Pelican dropship's engines as it thundered in. He pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and threw it, before long a large green plume of smoke began to billow skyward. The Pelican saw the smoke and turned toward them, at this point Harland threw the signal flare it's angry red glow attracted the dropship like a moth to an open flame as it descended toward them.

In the meantime, Harland scanned for the rest of the Pelicans. To his immense dismay, he saw that the one headed toward them was the only one. "Just _one_ Dropship? Christ, that's not a goddamned reinforcement it's a fucking burial detail. What the fuck is the brass thinking?" Walker whispered in shock.

The Pelican flared out and then landed on it's landing gear. The thrust from its downward facing nozzles sending mud flying in a ten-meter radius. Then the loading ramp lowered and a dozen figures marched off the Pelican. They were huge, each standing at least seven feet tall, clad in an iridescent green and matte black armor. Harland's eyes widened in shock, they hadn't been kidding when they had said help was on the way. Twelve Spartans, well that was like getting a twelve goddamned armies. Their motions were incredibly fluid as they moved, appearing to be more robotic than human, but they actually _were_ humans.

The first Spartan that had walked off the Pelican Dropship strode toward him. His armor was nearly completely bare, no rank insignia or anything. Apart from the white '117' emblazoned on the Spartan's right chest armor piece. However, Harland could see the rank insignia of a Master Chief Petty Officer in his helmet's HUD.

"Master Chief, sir!" Harland barked and snapped to attention and saluted.

"Corporal," the Spartan said. "At ease. Get your men together and we'll get to work."

"Sir?" Harland asked. "I've got only fourteen effectees, everyone else is wounded in some way. So what sort of work are we going to be doing, sir?"

The Master Chief cocked his helmet quizzically to one side. "We've come to take Sigma Octanus IV back from the Covenant, Corporal," he said in a calm matter of fact tone. "To do that, we're going to kill every last one of them."

 **AN: Alright, folks that's that chapter. Yes we know it's long, but it has some hot action in it. Plus it sets up something nice, for next chapter all hell may break loose, but it will have intense Spartan-II vs. Covenant action as well as your standard starship scuffle. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not really, other than to apologize to anyone who was confused reading this chapter because of all the stuff we put in. Trust me, it was confusing for us at times. But hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and see you in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alright folks, so I guess you could say that we've just gone through the calm before the storm and now it's time for the storm to break. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Time for the carnage of war to start.**

 **1800 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **D+00:00:05:34 - Spartan-117 Mission Clock**

 **On the surface of Sigma Octanus IV**

 **Grid nineteen by thirty-seven**

The Master Chief surveyed the remains of Alpha Headquarters, a scowl forming on his face. Out of four hundred fifty UNSC Marines that had been stationed here, only fourteen remained, the rest had been slaughtered by the Covenant forces. But after a mere moment if that, the scowl left his face.

He looked at Kelly, who apart from on the left side of her chest plate on her Mjolnir armor a white rabbit painted on and on the right she had a white "087" painted on, her armor was exactly like the Chief's. "Post a guard on the dropship, and put three on patrol. Take the rest and secure the LZ." He said.

"Yes sir!" The other Spartan replied and she then turned to the other ten Spartans, made three quick and silent hand gestures, and the Spartans dispersed as quickly and silently as phantoms.

The Chief then turned back to the Corporal. "Are you in command here, Corporal?" he asked.

The man looked around and then shrugged. "I guess so … yes sir, I am in charge here. When they told me that help was coming I wasn't expecting to receive Spartans for reinforcement." He said.

Master Chief nodded in response. "Alright, as of 0900 Hours Standard Military Time, today, NAVSPECWEP is assuming control of this operation. All Marine personnel now report through our chain of command. Understood, Corporal?" he said firmly.

"Understood, sir!"

"Now Corporal, explain what happened here." Chief ordered and Corporal Harland nodded and then he hunkered down and sketched out rough maps while recounting the brutal series of ambushes that had succeeded in turning the day into the day from hell. "Right here, sir. At grid thirteen by twenty-four that's where my fireteam first made contact with the enemy. I estimate at least a company maybe more. They had a Hunter pair their and well, that made our day go TARFU pretty damn fucking _quick_." Harland explained.

The Master Chief scanned the maps which while they were rather crude, they did compare quite well with the area surveys and tac map that the Chief pulled up on his HUD to compare them. He nodded in response, satisfied. Still, the knowledge that the Covenant had deployed multiple Hunter pairs, well that didn't bode well. The beasts were tough to kill, even for Spartans; the enormous shields that they carried was made out of starship armor grade Nanolaminate and thus was impervious to just about everything save heavy anti-tank weapons, which meant that while a Spear could do it, it often took two rockets from that weapon to kill _one_ Hunter. Still that was just one of two snags that had already occurred in a mission that was already rather dicey.

"Get your wounded in the Pelican, Corporal." he said. "We'll be dusting off soon. I want you to rotate by thirds on guard duty. However make no mistake, if the Pelican gets fragged, we will be staying on Sigma Octanus IV." Chief said and while the Corporal did pale, he nodded in response and said "Understood, sir."

Inside his sealed helmet, John frowned; this was not even twenty minutes old and they already had two snags. The first was the fact that the Covenant had deployed Hunter pairs, so they would have to be wary and on their guard for those things and the other snag was the fact that they had Marine survivors; which while it was a good thing, they were in no condition to help, plus they lacked the armor protection, training, and firepower that the Spartans had … bottomline, the Marines had to be protected not relied upon. That and he had to get them out of here alive.

Master Chief opened his COM link with a thought. "Team leaders, meet me at the LZ in three minutes." he ordered and two green lights winked on his HUD, his Spartans in question Joshua-029 and Linda-058 acknowledging his orders.

With that done, he then looked at the destruction that was around them. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of spent shell casings that were scattered across the battlefield glittered dully in the setting sun, smoke coiled upward lazily into the sky from numerous Warthogs and a few Scorpion tanks that lay shattered, flames licking up from their mangled chassis, and scores of burned and bullet ridden corpses lay in the mud, the remains of the Marines and the Covenant infantry. They'd have to get a burial detail out here before the Grunts got to the dead Marines.

While, the Master Chief would never question his orders. He did feel a momentary stab of bitterness, whoever had decided to blindly trust satellite transmission and without doing proper reconnaissance in order to set up both Alpha Headquarters and Firebase Bravo had been a goddamned idiot.

Worse than that, whoever had done so had wasted the lives of nearly an entire division's worth of good soldiers.

A moment later, Green Team's leader jogged in from the south. Although the Chief couldn't her features through the reflective faceplate of her helmet. He knew without even looking at his HUD that it was Linda, merely because of the way she moved and of course, the SRS99C-S2 AM Rail Rifle equipped with an Oracle N-variant scope that she carried. The Spartan sniper first carefully looked around and then after verifying that the area was clear, she slung her rifle and snapped a crisp salute. "Reporting as ordered, sir."

A moment later Red Team leader, Joshua, ran in from the east and then saluted. "Motion detectors and trackers plus automated defenses are up and running sir." He said.

"Good, let's go over the mission brief one more time." The Master Chief overlaid a tactical map of the area onto their HUDs. "Primary mission objective one: we are to gather intelligence on Covenant defenses and ground forces dispositions in the city of Côte d'Azur. Primary mission objective two: if we can confirm that there are no civilian survivors in the city, we are authorized to detonate a Fury tactical nuclear device in order to eliminate the Covenant forces. In the meantime, we'll minimize our contact with the enemy." The Chief said.

The other two spartans nodded in understanding. The Master Chief then highlighted four streams that fed into a river delta near Côte d'Azur on the topographical map. "We'll avoid these routes, Banshees patrol them." he said before with a thought circling were Firebase Bravo had been. "We'll avoid this area as well - according to the Marine survivors, that area is hot as well." he then with another thought circled Grid thirteen by twenty-four "Also according to the Marine survivors Grid thirteen by twenty-four also has activity." He said and the two Spartans nodded ever so slightly.

"Alright, for deployment; Red Leader I want you to take your squad in following the coast, make sure you stay in the treeline. Green Leader follow this ridgeline, but make sure that you keep under cover as well. I'll be taking this route here." Chief said, highlighting each of the three routes, with the route along the coast being highlighted in red, the route along the ridgeline being highlighted in green, and a route through a particularly dense section of jungle in blue.

"It's 1830 hours now. The city is thirteen kilometers from our current location, that should take no more than forty maybe forty-five minutes. Even if we factor in having to avoid enemy patrols and barring any snags we should all be in place by 1930 hours." He explained and two Spartans nodded in agreement.

He zoomed in on the city of Côte d'Azur itself. "We're going to enter the city through the sewer system, the entry points that we're going to be using are here, here, and here." Chief said, pointing out the entry points for the sewer system that they were going to be using to enter the city with NAV points. "Red Team will reconnoiter the wharf areas, Green takes the residential areas, and I'll take Blue downtown. Questions?" Chief said concluding his briefing.

"Yes sir, how are we going to be able to effectively communicate while we're underground? Communications will be limited and if we have to poke our heads out in order to get a clear signal, well our lives will most likely get very interesting, very fast." Linda said shaking her head and bringing up a very valid point. Even the advanced communications equipment that the Spartans used tended to become sporadic when they were underground, particularly when they were underground and surrounded by reinforced concrete and steel, they'd had an Op go sideways because of that.

"According to the CMA's file on Côte d'Azur, the sewer systems here have steel pipes running along the top of the plastic conduits. Tap into that using a ground-return transceiver in order to check in. We'll have our own private comm line." Chief replied.

"Roger." Linda said.

"As soon as we leave, the Pelican will dustoff and then head to this location, here." Chief said, indicating a location roughly thirty-five kilometers to the south of Alpha HQ. "If the mission goes south or dropship doesn't make it then our fallback rendezvous point is here." He indicated a position some fifty kilometers south of were Alpha HQ -or at least it's remains stood-. "ONI's welcoming committee have stashed our emergency SATCOM link and emergency supplies their." he finished.

Of course, everyone knew that the emergency supplies would be worthless if the Covenant glassed the planet.

"Stay sharp out there, trust your instincts, and come back in one piece. Dismissed." John said. The two Spartans briskly saluted and then sprinted to their assigned tasks. He then switched to Blue Team's frequency, for this Op, Blue Team was composed of Kelly-08, Fred-104, and James-005. "Time to saddle up Blue Team. RV back at the bunker for orders." he called out and three blue acknowledgement lights winked back in response.

A moment later, three Spartans in question trotted into the bunker. "Reporting as ordered, sir." Blue-Two said. The Master Chief quickly filled his team in on the plan that they were going with in order to execute the mission. He then turned to Kelly "Blue-Two, you're carrying the nuke and the medical gear." Chief said.

"Affirmative, who'll be carrying the detonator sir?" Kelly asked as she grabbed the Fury Nuclear Weapon and attached it magnetically to her armor's backplate, it wasn't that big, only roughly the size of an over-inflated and somewhat oversized football, however this sucker despite it's small size it packed an incredible punch, it's variable yield warhead could be set from as low as one megaton to as high as fifteen megatons, in essence the thing was pretty much the closest thing in the entire UNSC nuclear arsenal to what could be described as a Nuclear Hand Grenade, plus the blast was incredibly clean. Although considering where they were going to set the thing off, even if the thing "fizzled" the resulting blast would still be enough to reduce Côte d'Azur to a crater.

"I will." he replied. "Blue-Three," he turned to Fred. "You're carrying the explosives," Chief said he then turned to James. "James you're carrying our extra comms equipment. Blue Team, final equipment check."

For this mission, Blue Team as well as Green and Red Teams were for the most part equipped with MA6 Gauss Assault Rifles with threaded barrels so they could accept silencers plus twelve extra magazines; while one Spartan -with the exception of Green Team- in each squad was equipped with a BR55HB SR for Designated Marksman Duties with twelve extra magazines; each Spartan also carried no less than four Fragmentation Grenades, four Concussion Grenades, and two Napalm Grenades; plus a lethal Combat Knife and a Utility Knife; upsized M6D Magnum Pistols that fired powerful 12.7x40mm SAPHE rounds that was good enough to crack Grunt armor and if one knew where to aim could even take down Elite Minors and up to a Brute Ultra with the thing, thanks to it's 2x Smart-link scope it could serve as a Designated Marksman Rifle in a pinch.

In addition to all the weapons that the Spartans of Blue Team was carrying, they were also carrying a single smoke grenade that would release blue smoke when primed and tossed - John was going to carry that.

"Blue Team, fallout." Chief ordered and the four Spartans moved out. Just as they quickly got to the treeline in a simple single file formation. With Blue-Four being on point, James had very reliable instincts as a pointman. Regardless, they made very slow progress, for the main reason that despite the advanced sensors that Mjolnir Mark IV Assault Armor had, the motion tracker was rendered useless because of the fact that everything in the jungle moved. But the Spartans also had a far easier time of moving through the jungle than Marines, Troopers, or ODSTs would have moving through this sort of terrain because of their armor, Mjolnir made it like a walk in the park.

Still as the team moved on the thin mist that permeated the jungle turned into sheets of pouring rain. Quickly turning the damp ground into thick mud, which forced the Spartans to slow down, lest they trip over something that was hidden by the mud. Suddenly James stopped and held up a fist, the signal to freeze. John raised his rifle, and slowly swept it back and forth - looking for threats. It situations like this, relying on the eyes, ears, and instincts of the point-man was invaluable. " _Point to Blue-Actual: Enemy contact."_ James's calm voice announced calmly over the comm. " _Enemy troops within one hundred fifty meters of my position, fifteen degrees left."_ The spartan said, giving a general direction and then with exaggerated slowness, pointed in the right direction.

"Affirmative, Blue Team, hold position." While the motion sensors were all but worthless in this weather and environment, thermal imaging proved to be effective, John spotted four cold spots: Grunts in their chilled environmental suits and two large hot spots when compared to the surrounding area, likely Brutes in their Power Armor. "Blue-Team, enemy contact confirmed." Chief said. "Estimated enemy strength Point?"

" _Actual, I estimate twelve Grunts and two Brutes moving in a double-file formation. They haven't seen us yet. Orders, sir?_ " James asked.

John was faced with a slight dilemma, his orders were to minimize contact with the enemy. But on the other hand, the aliens were headed straight for the Marine bunker and while the Marines maybe able to kill the Grunts. The Brutes were another matter entirely, he'd seen the monstrous aliens tank the better part of a clip from an Assault Rifle or Carbine before falling and thus they were a significant threat. That clinched it for him. "Let's take them out Blue-Team." he ordered.

The Grunts slogged forward in the rain and through the mud, with one row behind each Brute. The diminutive and vaguely simian aliens were clad in either shiny red or orange armor, with craggy purple-black skin visible beneath their sealed environmental suits. Breath masks provided the squat little bastards chilled methane, which was the atmosphere of the Grunt homeworld. The two Brutes, on the other hand were massive beasts, their Power Armor had a glossy sheen to it, one of the powerful monsters was a Minor and the other was a Major, both were wearing Power Armor as well; it starting to become more and more commonplace, seeing Brutes that were wearing Power Armor that weren't Ultras.

The Grunts seemed incredibly bored, their Plasma Pistols and Needlers were at ease, not even in the ready position, with the exception of the two in the back, their Plasma Rifles were up and in the ready position. However the rest of the squat creatures chattered with each other in their weird high-pitched squeaks and guttural barks. The two Brutes were also seemingly bored, with only the Brute on point having it's weapon, a Spike Rifle at the ready position but it's companion also seemed bored, it's Brute Plasma Rifle was relaxed and swinging freely with the rest of the alien's massive arm. The overall formation of the Covenant troops was two rows, spaced roughly three meters apart, and were completely unaware of the wolves at their door.

In other words, easy, relaxed targets. Prefect.

The Chief gave his team a series of slow hand signals to the rest of his team. Telling them to fallback out of the alien's field of view. He then opened up the squad-wide COM. "There seventy-meters from this depression -" Chief said, dropping a NAV marker onto the topographical display order to show the depression that he was indicating "They are heading for the western hill and will more than likely follow the terrain to the top. We'll fall back for now and take concealed positions along the eastern hill. Blue-Four your our scout, stay near the bottom and let us know the moment the rear guard has passed you. Then take them out, they seem to be alert and ready."

"Blue-Three, you're on overwatch duty at the top of the east hill. Blue-Two, back me up, no explosives only silent weapons unless it goes bad." Chief ordered and three blue acknowledgement lights winked at him in response. He paused and then gave the order. "Move out."

The Spartans moved quickly but silently to their respective positions, spreading out along the hill and all but invisible, as they hid among the thick-barreled tree trunks of the local flora. The Chief in the center of the line, reached his position and waited. Time ticked by slowly, one minute … two … three. Blue-Four's acknowledgement light winked twice: _Enemy detected_.

Then, from a range of twenty-five meters away the lead Brute appeared, he too was looking bored. He slowly swept his Spike Rifle around and then relaxed. A few moments later, the rest of the of the aliens trudged into view. Coming to a stop some seven meters behind the alien on point. Blue Four's status light winked once: _Now._

The Chief opened fire, the report of his MA6 muffled by both the rain and the suppressor affixed to the end of his weapon. A burst of three conically shaped 7.62x51mm projectiles made out of tungsten and softer metals shot forth at a velocity of just under 5,000 meters per second. The lead round crashed into the Brute Major's Energy Shield which failed instantly, but it stopped the first projectile however the second and third projectile's both smashed right through the enemy's helmet and then exploded out of the back of the alien's skull, an enormous splash of Indigo blood, white bone, brain matter, and pieces of the helmet erupted from the alien and the enormous bastard dropped like a rock.

The Brute Minor _roared_ in downright outrage and began looking frantically for a target to tear apart. The Grunts panicked and brought their weapons up to the alert position and began sweeping frantically left to right looking for a target. John spotted two strobe flashes: two discharges from a Battle Rifle on single shot. " _Blue-Three to actual, rearguard eliminated._ "

"Hit'em!" John barked before firing another burst of projectiles that smashed through the Brute Minor's shields with effortless ease and then ripped the monster's head in half with effortless ease. The Grunts panicked and began a full scale retreat in the direction that they had come from. They all made it at most probably about four or five meters in the opposite direction, before lethal and controlled bursts of 7.62 tungsten projectiles and 10x68mm SAP-HE rounds tore into them, dropping all of the panicking and fleeing aliens within moments, they splashed lifelessly into the mud, their bodies ripped apart by either hypervelocity Tungsten projectiles or torn apart by the extremely powerful rounds of the BR55HB SR.

The Spartans formed up, and Kelly policed the gear that the Covenant soldiers had, their Plasma Pistols, Needlers, and Plasma Rifles, plus the Plasma Grenades; and handed each Spartan two Plasma Grenades and a Plasma Rifle. The Spartans, hell all UNSC soldiers had standing orders to retrieve Covenant weapons and technology whenever possible.

The Spartans marched closer to the city of Côte d'Azur, after traveling ten kilometers over rough ground they got to the edge of the jungle where it gave way to rice paddies and thus a clean shot to the city, and it was here that an unforeseen complication made it's presence known. Three Covenant ships, each one with the shape of a standard Covenant Cruiser, but being some five hundred meters long or so Chief estimated hovered above the city; each ship had a shaft of purple light came down from the belly of each ship, a gravity lift. This posed a significant problem, if those were warships then any direct ground assault against the city would die before they even got close. If those were troop transports than they could possibly carry hundred if not thousands of Covenant troops as well as armor support.

However for getting across the rice paddies, they had a solution for that. One that would make any and all Marines or Army Troopers likely bitch and complain. They donned camouflaged cloaks that masked their thermal signatures and crawled some seven kilometers through the muck on their stomachs.

When they crawled out of the mud, they were near the beach, near the edge of the city. They moved quickly but as quietly as a mouse, despite being encased in half-ton of Mjolnir Assault Armor, rapidly finding their entry point into the city. A sewage outlet pipe, which meant that if a firefight or hell even a grenade got dropped in their, well considering the amount of stuff that can go boom in a sewer pipe a good sized portion of the city would go up, regardless the two and half meter diameter pipe had a steel grate covering it, himself and Fred easily bent the bars aside as easily as they were made out of pipe-cleaners and _not_ high-carbon steel.

They sloshed through the hip-deep muck and the crampedness of the pipes; well Chief didn't like it and not because he was claustrophobic, it was because of tactical reasons. It basically forced them to bunch up, massed fire or even a couple of grenades would seriously ruin their day; in addition to that, their mobility options were nearly non-existent, if things went hot they would have no room to maneuver and thus dodge enemy fire. In addition to that, motion trackers were useless, the downpour that was happening upstairs caused the trackers to display hundreds of targets at once.

The Chief lead his team through the intricate maze, following his electronic map. They moved as quietly as a crocodile swimming through a lake through the sludge, light filtered in from above and every so often something would move and block a manhole cover vent, thus blocking the light. Eventually the Spartans reached their final NAV point, directly in the center of Côte d'Azur's "downtown" district.

With an almost imperceptible jerk of his head, Master Chief signaled his team to spread out and keep their eyes peeled. Meanwhile, Chief himself pulled out a piece of equipment: a Fiber-optic probe, connected it to his helmet so it could send a visual feed and snaked it up through a drain gate. What he found was similar to what he had expected to find, yellow-sodium light washed everything in an eerie glow, clusters of four Grunts led by either a Skirmisher or Jackal was on every street corner, and the shadow of a pair of Banshee fliers circling lazily overhead.

Both electric and hydrogen fueled cars lay either on their sides or roofs with a few of the vehicles on fire, the waste-receptacles had also either been knocked over or set on fire, although he did spot one case where both had occurred. Every single building had its bottom windows shattered or broken and they all bore signs of damage from energy weapons fire. The Master Chief also didn't see any signs of civilians alive or otherwise.

He retrieved the probe and signaled for Blue-Team to move over another block and when John snaked his Fiber-optic probe up through a manhole cover vent and saw that there was even more activity here. _We must be getting warmer._ Chief thought, there was a large herd of Special Operations Grunts that was meandering their way down the streets with all the professionalism of Spec Ops soldiers, further down on a corner, a Skirmisher and a Jackal squabbled over a piece of meat and probably would've come to blows had it not been for the intervention of a Special-Operations Elite.

That's when something else caught his attention, it was an alien to be sure. But it _hovered_ above the sidewalk. It was roughly man-sized but he realized after looking at it with a start that he was looking at a Covenant Engineer. It sedately hovered over to an Electric Car and snaked a tentacle under the hood and opened it, what the alien did next, surprised him. It disassembled the engine, with incredible speed laying out all of the parts of it onto the pavement in neat rows. After doing that it paused, examined its work and then reassembled and disassembled the engine several times, each time putting it into a new configuration before putting it back into it's original configuration and put the engine back into the car and moved on. He made sure that his helmet recorder had caught that.

He rotated the probe and saw that there was more activity about a block-away. He withdrew the probe and moved Blue Team down another block to the south. Then climbed up a small series of handholds up to the manhole cover and snaked the probe through the vent. The hoof of an Elite blocked half of his field of view, with excruciating slowness, he turned the probe and saw easily thirty Jackals, twenty Skirmishers, and at least nine maybe even twelve Elites milling around in the street. They were concentrated however around a building across the street, it was modeled after a building that his AI teacher Déjà had shown him in pictures years ago during his training, an Athenian Temple, with tall and proud White Marble Ionic pillars and steps. Resting at the top of the steps was a pair of Type-29 Anti-Infantry Stationary Guns, more bad news. _Alright, I think we've hit the jackpot._ John thought.

He pulled the probe back and consulted his map, that building was the Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History, the Covenant had some real serious firepower here; those Stationary Guns had commanding fields of fire that could turn the avenue that the museum was on into a death trap in a matter of moments. However something wasn't adding up, the Museum couldn't be a ground-based headquarters for the Covenant forces, not when they had those ships. _Still why are they protecting that structure?_ He wondered, the only thing that he had seen Covenant forces use human buildings for was only for target practice really; so why the Covenant would suddenly break standard MO, it was strange, but the way that they were guarding it … it was almost as if it was very important. Which meant that if it was important, then Chief wanted to find out what.

With that in mind, the Master Chief signaled for Blue-Two, he pointed down the accessway that led under the museum; he held up two fingers, pointed to where her eyes would be and then pointed down the accessway and then slowly made a fist, the Spartan signal for "Scout it out".

Kelly, proceeded down the accessway very slowly, scouting it out. Chief then checked the time and found that it was time for both Green and Red Teams to check in. He had James hook up the ground-return transceiver to the pipes overhead. "Green Team, check in." he said.

" _Roger, Green Actual here, sir._ " Linda's quiet voice came over the channel. " _We've scouted out the Residential section._ " There was a noticeable pause over the channel before she continued. " _No survivors found, it's just like Draco Three sir. We're too late._ " The sniper said.

The Chief understood instantly, the Covenant didn't take prisoners. Draco Three had been attacked by the Covenant in 2545, the Spartans had watched via a satellite uplink as the aliens had rounded up all of the human survivors and then had them ripped apart by ravenous Grunts, Jackals, and Skirmishers… it hadn't been pretty to watch. By the time that the Spartans had arrived, there had been no one left to rescue. But the Spartans had made damn sure that the victims were avenged.

"Copy, Green Actual, no survivors. Stand-by and prepare to fall back to the RV point and secure the area." Chief said.

" _Standing by._ " Linda whispered.

Chief then switched to Red Team's COM channel. "Red Actual report."

" _Red Actual here sir. Got some more useful data on the those Covenant Engineers for ONI to pick apart. It's incredible at how quickly they take stuff apart and put it back to get together again. Recommend that you don't engage or spook one when it's in the middle of doing something, they raise a pretty loud alarm, Blue Actual._ " Joshua replied crisply.

"You in trouble?" Chief asked, hoping that he wouldn't have to send Green Team to bail out Red Team.

" _Dodged trouble sir. But we've stumbled across a snag._ " Red Actual responded.

"Snag", that was a word that Spartans used when something unexpected happened: downed teammate, getting caught in a minefield, ambushed, or pinned down by a sniper. They were complications that no one expected or planned for and thus it was a word that wasn't used lightly.

"Go ahead." John whispered.

" _We have survivors, sir. Roughly twenty civilians hid in a cargo ship, several are wounded, one seriously._ " Red Actual replied.

The Master Chief mulled this over, his orders were clear. Even if their was so much as a single toddler found in the city, they couldn't set off the nuke and annihilate the thousands of Covenant soldiers that were here. "New primary mission objective Red Actual. Get those civilians out of the city and to the recovery point and have them evaced to the fleet." He said before switching channels again, this time broadcasting to all teams this time. "Green Actual, you still online?"

There was a brief pause. " _Roger._ " Linda said.

"Move to the docks and coordinate with Red Team to evacuate the civilians from the city and get them to the RV point. Green Actual has strategic control of this mission." The Chief ordered.

" _Understood, sir. We're on our way."_ Linda replied.

" _Roger that, sir. We'll get them out._ " Joshua said.

"Blue Team out." Master Chief replied, he knew that it was going to be rough going for both Red and Green Teams getting those civilians out alive. Plus if they had to protect those civilians from enemy patrols, they'd all get noticed. Regardless, he was confident that both Red and Green Teams would be able to get the civilians out alive.

Blue-Two returned a moment later from scouting out the accessway; she opened a COM link and reported in. " _The accessway itself is clear, there's a ladder that leads up to the surface but there's a steel plate that's been welded shut. We can burn through it._ " she said.

The Master Chief opened up the all-hands freq for Blue-Team. "We're going to assume that Red and Green Teams will be able to get the civilians evacuated from Côte d'Azur, we'll proceed as planned." he said before pausing and then adding "Break out the nuke and arm it."

 **1940 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **D+00:01:40:38 - Spartan-029 Mission Clock**

 **Côte d'Azur Wharves**

The Wharves were like the rest of the city was in ruins and death was thick in the air. Now Red and Green Teams was making their way out of the city with twenty survivors.

"Coast is clear." Joshua-029, Red Actual said, "Green Two, take point."

"Roger, Red Actual" Anton-044, Green Two replied as he moved ahead of the group. "This is Green Two, the road is clear of hostiles."

"Green Actual, understood, moving up now." Linda-058, Green Actual said, "Red Four, Green Three, watch our rear."

"Wilco." Malcolm-059, Red Four replied.

"Understood." Isaac-039, Green Three acknowledged.

"Watch our backs." Will-043, Green Four said.

"Will do, you watch those civvies, Green Four" Isaac replied. The group of Spartans and survivors made their way down the road, past destroyed warehouses and burning buildings, mangled vehicles and charred remains. The trip was mostly quiet besides the random sniffles and sobs.

"Never thought I would see the day our city got hit." A survivor commented.

The group continued their way until they reached Anton who was peering into a junction.

"What do you see, Green Two?" Linda asked.

"Small Covenant Patrol, three Grunts and one Brute." Anton answered, "Your orders?"

"Let them pass, we got unarmed civilians." Linda said.

"Understood." Anton said as he continued to observe the Covenant foot soldiers move on to another section of the destroyed city, "They are out of sight."

"Good, Red Two, cover the other side of the road." Joshua said.

"Will do." Grace-093, Red Two said as she made her way to the other side of the junction, "Clear."

"Red Three, take five civvies and move first." Linda ordered.

"Understood, Green Actual." Keiichi-047, Red Three said, "You five, follow me." 

Anton and Grace watched the road as Keiichi escorted five survivors, followed by Malcolm with five, Isaac with five, Will with the last five. Then Linda and Joshua made the crossing, followed by Anton who immediately headed straight back to the front of the pack as he was redesignated to take point.

"How far are we to the exfil point?" Grace asked.

"Patience Grace, we got civvies and they can't move as fast as we can." Joshua said, "But to answer your question, we are 20 mikes away from the exfil point."

"Good, the sooner we get out of here, the better." Grace said.

"Come on, just keep eye out for the Covenant." Linda said.

"Green Two here, I see two Covenant Grunts, 500 m down the road. It appears they are not moving from their spot."

"Well, looks like it is up to you, Green One." Joshua said as he turned to Linda.

"Yes it appears so Red One." Linda said as she moved up to Anton before she aimed down her rifle at the two Grunts, "Good night."

"Tangoes down, good shot Green Actual." Anton said.

"Thanks, now move up Green Two, we need to make sure that there are no surprises." Linda said.

"Understood, Green Actual." Anton said before he headed forward down the empty road.

"What do you see out there, Green Two?" Joshua requested.

"All clear, Red Actual, I see no Covenant forces, down this road." Anton answered.

"Understood. Hold position until we arrive, Green Two." Joshua replied.

"Roger, setting up shop." Anton replied.

"Alright, let's get moving before any more Covenant how up. Red Four, Green Three, watch our rear." Joshua said.

"Understood." Malcolm said.

"You again, why am I not surprised." Isaac sighed jokingly.

"Not now Green Three." Malcolm said. The group continued their way to where Anton was holed up.

"Do you have anything for us, Green Two?" Linda asked.

"Not this time, Green Actual, route's clear." Anton said.

"Good, let's get going." Joshua said.

"Understood, Red Actual." Anton said. It didn't take long but they soon were in sight of the exfil point and within the hour were out of the city with no losses.

 **2125 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard UNSC Destroyer** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

 **In military staging orbit around Sigma Octanus IV**

A dull, slightly worried sounding rumble was resonating through the hull of the _Iroquois_ as Captain Jacob Keyes strode onto the bridge, buttoning his collar. "Ship status?" He asked as he strode over to the command chair. That's when he noticed something, the portside forward camera was still obscured in shadow. "And why haven't we departed the _Cradle_ yet?" he asked.

"Sir, we've had General Quarters sounded and all stations are manned and ready for combat. Uploading tac data to your station now, sir." Dominique said.

As Keyes sat down in the Captain's chair -or The Chair and/or the hot seat as it was also called- his datapad began showing the positions of the various ships and the _Cradle_ itself, a slight almost indignant rumble went through the _Iroquois_ as if she was saying " _Cradle_ wouldn't like that if she heard that you called her an 'it'.".

"As you can see sir. We actually _did_ clear the station, she's just moving along with us on the same outbound vector. Vice Admiral Stanforth wants her with the fleet, don't know why though." Dominique said, a note of curiosity in her voice as to why the _Cradle_ , in essence a 13.2-kilometer long brick of a repair and refitting station with engines which was armed with only a point-defense network that couldn't hope to fight off a determined attack by single ships, yet she was being taken right into the maw of a fleet action.

"It seems like the Vice Admiral has a trick up his sleeve." Keyes replied, he then turned to Lieutenant Hall's station. "Engine status, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Engines are heated to fifty percent, just to keep a little something in reserve in case we have to run. It's not much sir, but it could be just enough to catch the Covenant off-guard and cause the sudden boost in velocity to screw over a targeting solution." She reported and then straightened up to her full height and looked straight at the Captain, he eyes had something akin to defensiveness in them. "But, to be frank sir. The engines took a real nasty beating during our first engagement with the Covenant. The repairs we've made, well, they're the best we can do without totally overhauling them." Hall said.

"Understood, thank you Lieutenant." Keyes replied as he tried not to frown. Truth be told, he was worried about the engines too. They had taken one hell of a beating during the battle, particularly to the engines. Still, he liked Hall's reasoning, best not to show what they had under the hood in terms of speed just yet, despite the repairs.

"Weps?" Keyes asked as he turned to Lieutenant Hikowa, who looked an awful lot like a porcelain doll. However Keyes knew that appearance was only skin deep. She had nerves of steel and had ice water running through her veins at time. She was solid under pressure. Keyes was glad to have her aboard as his weapons officer.

"MACs are at sixty-three percent charging at three percent a minute. Secondary battery is fully charged and ready to fire." Hikowa replied.

Quite literally _everything_ onboard the _Iroquois_ had slowed to a crawl. The ship no longer had her speed, if anything it seemed like the ship was barely managing to keep up with the _Cradle_. Hell even the rate at which the ship's main cannons were being charged at was much slower than normal. It was disconcerting to say the least, Destroyers were supposed to be fast and agile, able to get in, unleash hell, and then get back out before the enemy figures out that you're there and were not supposed to be as agile and speedy as a crippled Blue Whale.

Captain Keyes suppressed a sigh and sat up straighter in his chair. It was not the time at the moment to be thinking about self-recriminations, he would just have to work with what he had, there was simply no other way around it. Still, at least the _Iroquois_ still had her guns and if push came to shove he could always try ramming. It was a well documented fact that even Covenant ships when they had their shields up often would either be totally destroyed in a flank speed ramming or would most certainly come out of it crippled. It was an old spacer trick, if you still had engines and your bow you still had one effective weapon left.

As if on cue, the lift doors opened and a young man stepped onto the bridge. He was tall and thin, in addition to that he was disarmingly handsome. His black hair which while it was somewhat longer than regulations permitted had been slicked back. Keyes noted that the female bridge crew paused for a moment to spare the new comer a glance before they went back to their various tasks that were at hand. "Ensign William Lovell reporting for duty, sir." he said as he snapped a crisp and sharp salute.

This somewhat surprised Captain Keyes, considering how unkempt he looked and that he could have such a crisp adherence to military protocol. "Welcome aboard Ensign Lovell." He said as he returned the salute, the kid was certainly still sharp. "Man the navigation post, please." he ordered.

In the meantime the various bridge officers had actually turned to scrutinize the Ensign. Utterly surprised that a mere _ensign_ was being assigned a bridge posting. It was unusual for someone who was such a low rank to be given the role of driver for a capital ship, not unheard of but it was incredibly rare.

Apparently so did Lovell. "Sir?" he asked, his forehead wrinkling with obvious confusion. His confused look deepened noticeably as he digested that bit of information. "Has there been some sort of mistake, sir?" he asked, confusion clear in his tone of voice.

"You _are_ Ensign William Lovell? Recently posted on the _Archimedes_ Remote Sensor Outpost, correct?" Keyes asked and then immediately berating himself as he realized that if he had been in the same position, he would be more than a little confused.

"Yes, sir. They pulled me off of _Archimedes_ so fast that I barely had -" The Ensign began saying before Keyes cut him off. "Then man your station, Ensign." He ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Lovell replied before going to the navigation console. It took him only a couple of seconds to acquaint himself with the controls and then he reconfigured them to his liking. The way he was carrying himself with this sudden development caused a slight smile to tug at the corner of Keyes' mouth. He now knew just from how quickly Lovell had adopted to this new situation that he had far more combat experience than anyone else on the bridge.

"Ensign, show me the position of the allied fleet and the relative location of it to the enemy's fleet." Keyes ordered.

"Yessir, putting it up on the main screen." Lovell replied as his fingers danced across the controls at his stations. The main screen's display shifted from displaying the view on the forward cameras to a tactical map of the area, Sigma Octanus IV was in grey on one side and it's moon on the other, in between those two celestial bodies were dozens of triangular markers with blue and green representing the UNSC and URF ships respectively and red markers representing the Covenant ships.

The way that Vice Admiral Stanforth had decided to deploy the fleet was brilliant, they were massing in between the planet and the moon. Which meant they were starting a fight within a gravity well and thus was akin to starting a fight with your back against the wall or a corner. It would force your opponent to come straight at you and severely limited how they could maneuver, it rendered some tactic and even strategic options either risky at best or suicidal at worst, the most notable was the fact that the starting location rendered the ability for the Covenant to use an intra-system jump to undercut the UNSC/URF ships.

However as Keyes continued to study the display, he frowned. The formation that Stanforth had the fleet assuming was a tight 'checkerboard' formation, with the heavies the _Marathon_ class, the _Vindication_ class, the three _Halcyon_ class Lights, the Carriers, and the URF ships the _Kilimanjaro_ -the class leader in her line of Battleships-, four _Geneva_ class Light Cruisers, and two _Warsaw_ class Heavy Cruisers were in the center of the allied formation with the numerous Corvettes, Frigates, and Destroyers on the flanks.

In one way it was actually a rather solid strategy, if they could bait the Covenant into making a full frontal assault against their center, the Covenant space forces would suddenly have to deal with frigates and destroyers appearing on their flanks and getting them caught in a spectacularly lethal crossfire. But on the other hand, when the Covenant fired their plasma weapons, due to the fact that the formation was tight, there would be barely any room to maneuver if any.

As it stood the Covenant was advancing in-system rapidly, Keyes counted at least twenty ships although the number was likely closer to thirty, their radar signatures gliding in-system with all of the intent of a shark. He didn't like the look of those odds.

"Receiving orders, Captain. Vice Admiral Stanforth wants the _Iroquois_ at this position stat!" Dominique said as on the map, a blue triangle pulsed near the center of the grid. In between two URF Frigates the _Normandy_ and the _Dresden_ which had reached their respective positions, thanks to their higher thrust to weight ratio.

"Ensign Lovell, get us there at best speed." Keyes said before noticing something about the screen. "Hall, can you please bring up the forward camera on the right view screen?" He asked.

"Aye aye sir!/Yessir!" Lovell and Hall replied in unison.

The repaired view screen two snapped to life, and then Keyes had to fight down a wave of embarrassment as the goddamned _Cradle_ starport began to pull ahead of the _Iroquois_ and a moment later a rumble that felt _incredibly_ embarrassed went through the decking of CIC. It also seemed that _Iroquois_ herself was embarrassed at that fact.

The massive station took position above the allied Phalanx and then with a burn from her thrusters rotated until she was edge on to the on-coming Covenant fleet and thus showing only the smallest target area to the Covenant ships.

"Rotating and reversing burn." Ensign Lovell announced as the rumble of the ship's main propulsion thrusters changed. "Thrusters are now at precision station-keeping sir." he said.

"Very good, Ensign. Lieutenant Hikowa get our MACs charged on the double, divert as much power as you need in order to get them charged." Keyes ordered.

"Aye aye, sir!" Hikowa replied as she rapidly typed out commands. "Capacitors are now charging at maximum rate possible." she said.

"Captain, we're receiving an encrypted firing solution and a countdown timer for us from the _Leviathan_ 's AI. What is the Vice Admiral planning?" Dominique said, her voice wondering.

"I don't know Lieutenant. Regardless transfer that data to Lieutenant Hikowa and then show me onscreen." Keyes replied, truth be told he too was trying to figure out what the hell Vice Admiral Stanforth was trying to do.

"Yessir!" Dominique said and a moment later a line reached out from the _Iroquois_ to one of the Covenant ships, an enemy Frigate to be precise. A small countdown timer also appeared, it was at twenty-six seconds and counting.

"I think I have a basic idea as to what the Vice Admiral is planning. But there's only one way to find out. Lieutenant Dominique, now show me the entire fleet's firing solutions." Keyes said thoughtfully.

"Aye sir!" Dominique replied and tapped in a few more commands. A few moments later, dozens of lines appeared from the allied fleet, criss-crossing the tactical map, with each line connecting to a Covenant ship, in some cases multiple lines reaching out to connect to a single Covenant ship which was understandable considering how tough the enemy shields got for their heavier ships. Each trajectory had a tiny countdown timer that now read twenty-two seconds and counting.

With the way that it looked, it was as if the combined UNSC/URF Fleets were exchanging musket volley fire with the Covenant, just like the colonial militia and the Redcoats back during the American Revolutionary War from the late 1700s. Those tactics were either going to wind up being one of three things brilliant, bloody, … or suicidal.

That's when Keyes figured out, the countdown timers were staggered so that the MACs and secondaries of the fleet would be able to discharge in two maybe three massive salvoes. Which explained why the fleet was setup like this, sure they had no room to maneuver, but when a Covenant ship that had launched plasma were destroyed, the magnetic field that held the plasma bolt together dissipated and thus the Plasma torpedo was rendered impotent, granted that often took the torpedo to travel roughly thirty kilometers before that occurred. Regardless, that first massed salvo hopefully knock out the enemy's shields allowing for the second one to deliver the knockout punch.

However there was also a problem with that trick. It would work exactly once, the remaining Covenant ships would then unleash their superior firepower, they had no momentum or speed to work with. In other words they were simply sitting ducks for the Covenant.

"Sound decompression alarms in all nonessential sections, Lieutenant Hall and then empty them." Keyes ordered, so that if they took a hit, they wouldn't have to deal with a fire. Because even onboard a starship the size of the _Iroquois_ a fire was everyone's worst nightmare, simply because oxygen was limited on a ship. So the lower they could make the chances for fire breaking out the better off they were.

"Aye aye sir!" Hall replied understanding instantly.

"Guns: status on the MACs and secondaries?" Keyes asked, his eyes glued to the firing timers as they counted down: Nineteen … fifteen … Twelve …

"Sir, MACs are hot and secondaries are ready to go! Removing final safeties now!" Hikowa announced as the ship seemed to hum with power that was in the capacitors for the MACs.

The Covenant fleet, thirty five ships in all suddenly realized their mistake, they were broadside on to the human fleet, giving them a perfect target. The ships began to rotate toward the human vessels with angry crimson fire starting accumulate across their lateral lines as did purple and blue flashes as particle cannons and pulse lasers charged., but their momentum still carried them toward the human ships.

Seven seconds til the battle began.

"Transferring firing controls to the computer and locking down controls!" Hikowa announced as she frantically typed in a few more commands, the firing codes for the MACs and secondaries then locked down the controls.

Three seconds later, the _Iroquois_ recoiled and shuddered as two powerful thumps resounded through the hull with a deep bass followed moments later by the tenor of the secondaries firing. At the exact same moment that happened, the starboard view screen showed the combined UNSC/URF fleet firing.

Moments later scarlet lightning erupted from the Covenant fleet, each ship unleashed multiple plasma torpedoes that streaked in likely angry bolts of fire from hell.

"Time until that plasma reaches us, Ensign?" Keyes asked as the angry red fire lanced ever closer.

Lovell glanced at something. "Twenty seconds!" he replied as the void became filled with hyper-accelerated Depleted Uranium and angry hellfire. The various trajectories closed and then criss-crossed, the projectiles hurtling onward. A half second later, the allied fleet's first salvo slammed into the enemy fleet with righteous fury.

The results were obvious, the two slugs from the _Iroquois_ crashed right through the shields of an enemy frigate and then smashed into its hull, the ship instantly broke apart as the equivalent of 7,000 megatons of TNT smashed into it, the hull being turned into simply a thousand pieces. Another ship, again a Frigate took a direct hit from a URF ship, the shields shattered as did the round, only for moments later a secondary battery salvo crashed into it and utterly shredded the unfortunate ship. One of the two Heavy Cruisers took three rounds and a volley of secondary battery projectiles before it's shields failed and allowed a round to slam right into it, the shell cored the length of the vessel and burst out the back, numerous internal explosions chained up the length of the hull bulging it outward, the vessel rolled lazily out of formation and unto it's side. Keyes winced in sympathy as an enemy Heavy Destroyer took two MAC rounds at the exact same moment and had all of it's forward motion arrested in an instant, with likely fatal results for the crew. Another ship, an enemy light cruiser took multiple rounds from URF ships and simply spun out of formation. The process repeated several times, with several more ships getting quite literally smacked out of formation.

Meanwhile the bolts of fire grew ever closer, although several became smeared and began to lose cohesion before dissipating completely. But that still left a _lot_ of plasma coming their way. As it hurtled toward them. "Captain," Lieutenant Dominique said. "We're receiving a new set of firing solutions and countdown timers from the _Leviathan_ 's AI. Vice Admiral Stanforth is also transmitting a message to the fleet, priority channel."

"Put it up on holotank two." Keyes ordered.

Near the main view screen, the holotank that was mainly used for the ship's AI warmed and the ghostly figure of Vice Admiral Stanforth appeared. " _All ships, hold your positions and divert your engine power to recharging your main guns immediately. We've got something a little special cooked up._ " He said and then his eyes narrowed, someone was probably pointing out that they were sitting ducks and that they needed to move _now_ if they wanted to survive. " _Do not -I repeat- do not under any circumstances break formation or fire your guns before your ordered too. Stanforth out._ " he said sharply and a moment later the holotank snapped off as the connection was cut.

"Orders, sir?" Ensign Lovell asked as he turned around, but instead of fear like Lieutenant Jaggers would have displayed Lovell's face showed obvious concern and even some confusion. "You heard the Vice Admiral's orders, Ensign. Lieutenant Hikowa: get our MACs recharged on the double!" Keyes barked.

"Yessir!/Aye sir!" the two bridge officers in question replied.

"Second salvo impact … now!" Hikowa announced as multiple slugs streaked in. Several missed or only clipped the enemy, with each shot making Keyes wince, each missed round meant that another Covenant ship would be able to retaliate. However the vast majority of the rounds screamed right into the Covenant formation.

The lead ship, a Heavy Destroyer took a direct hit from a 200-ton slug from a UNSC ship, it's shields flared and then failed. Moments later a 75-ton slug from an URF ship crashed into the thing and ran the length of its bulbous shaped prow, punting the ship into spin to port effortlessly, the ship's engines flared dramatically as her pilot tried to regain control of the vessel, only for another round from a URF ship from the opposite side. The ship's structural integrity field managed to hold the ship together for exactly three seconds, before the ship flexed amidships and then broke up, scattering debris in a wide glittering arc.

Another enemy vessel, a Frigate was hammered by multiple UNSC secondary battery rounds, the ship shuddered as the projectiles punched through her hull and tore it to shreds internally. The ship lurched, completely out of control in a heavy list to starboard, collecting a second frigate as it did so which resulted in a glorious plume of grey-white atmosphere roaring out of one the Frigates, then both wrecked ships drifted right into the center of the enemy formation, where they collided with a Covenant Cruiser. The three ships became entangled with each other and then the reactors on the Frigates went critical and all three ships were engulfed by the resulting explosion, fingers of plasma extending outward.

But even as the carnage continued and more plasma torpedoes began to diffuse and lose their shape and form. It was filling the forward view screen now. "Captain, incoming priority message from the fleet commander! Audio only!" Dominique announced.

"Let's hear it Lieutenant!" Keyes ordered and a moment later the speakers hissed and crackled with static before the voice of Vice Admiral Stanforth came through. "Flagship to all ships: hold position, transfer fire control to your countdown timers and … hang onto your hats!" The Vice Admiral said as suddenly the _Cradle_ moved.

The massive stardock turned till she was broadside on and slid down in front of the UNSC phalanx. "Holy fucking christ." Lovell whispered his voice cracking. "They're going to take the hits for us." his eyes wide in shock. A moment later a stunned rumble went through the deck plating on the _Iroquois_.

"Dominique! Hit the scopes, are their _any_ escape craft leaving the _Cradle_?" Keyes asked, although he had a sinking feeling in his gut that he already knew the answer.

"Negative, sir. No life pods have left the _Cradle_." Dominique said, his voice laced with thick worry.

By this point all eyes were now riveted to the forward screens as the large dark shape of the _Cradle_ blocked their view. Keyes balled his fists and clenched his teeth in the face of such helplessness.

The screen didn't stay black.

Pinpoints of red and yellow began to appear as the plasma weapons impacted the Stardock and began burning through her. Small plumes of metal vapor began to appear and they widened. The station was visibly shoved back as more plasma impacted with sufficient force to knock her back towards the fleet as she traveled downward spreading out the damage. A lot of areas of the thing were now either bright pink or was beginning to boil away, revealing a lattice work of Vanadium Steel and Titanium-C girders which were glowing white hot and then the station was gone.

"Aft ventral cameras!" Keyes barked sharply. "NOW!"

The view changed to the _Iroquois_ ' aft belly cameras and revealed the _Cradle_ as she seemingly floated away. Her entire surface was a glow, bathed in pink and white light as her center liquified and pulled at itself, the heat spreading rapidly to the edges. Burn throughs beginning to appear nearly everywhere in the massive station as the plasma ate through the incredibly tough materials that made up the _Cradle_.

"MAC and secondary guns ready to fire in five seconds." Hikowa announced, her voice cold, low, and angry. "Targets locked in."

"The crew of the _Cradle_ gave us this extra shot. Make it count Lieutenant." Keyes growled as he griped the arms of his command chair.

A second later, the _Iroquois_ shuddered and spat two 200-ton MAC rounds and massed salvo from her secondary guns. Just like before the allied fleet fired, but this time it wasn't staggered, every single ship in the fleet fired their main and secondary guns. Creating a veritable _wall_ of Depleted Uranium and Tungsten Carbide that was hurled at the Covenant Fleet. A twenty-one gun salute many times over for those who had been piloting the _Cradle_ that had given their lives for this shot.

The ship-to-ship comm crackled and came to life as Vice Admiral Stanforth gave out his next set of orders. " _All ships: break and attack!_ " he bellowed. " _Pick your targets and fire at will! Take out as many of these bastards as you can! Stanforth out._ "

The fleet had to move before the Covenant recharged their plasma weapons. "Ensign Lovell, fifty percent to our engines, bring us about to course two eight zero, mark zero. Guns, arm all Fusion Archer Missile Pods and remove safeties." Keyes ordered.

"Aye sir!" Ensign Lovell, Lieutenant Hall, and Lieutenant Hikowa said in unison.

The UNSC and URF fleets broke ranks and scattered, the UNSC _Lancelot_ , the last _Halberd_ class Destroyer ever produced rushed forward charging the Covenant fleet. But the _Iroquois_ moved away at a right angle as chaos erupted, the surprise salvo caught the Covenant off guard, a dozen ships were knocked out of the fight. But that's when fate revealed the biggest surprise yet, a Covenant _DAS_ class Supercarrier was in the midst of the enemy ships, along with a remaining _ORS_ class Heavy, plus several _CCS_ and _CRS_ class Battlecruisers and Light Cruisers, and multiple Heavy and Light Destroyers.

Both fleets released their single ships, UNSC Rapier Interceptors, Broadsword Multiroles, and Longsword Fighters and Heavy Bombers as well as URF's sleek and nimble SX3 _Tigershark_ class Interceptors, their bulkier cousins but still fast and nimble SX4 _Thunderstar_ class Space Superiority Fighters, and the larger SB5 _Nomad_ class Bombers poured from launch bays while in response the Covenant fleet unleashed the hounds in the form of hundreds if not thousands of vaguely scarab shaped _Seraph_ Fighters and _Moroi_ Bombers as well as Space Banshees. The groups of fighters clashed and a frantic furball erupted.

The two forces clashed and all hell broke loose. Stabs of purple and blue light contrasted angrily with the streams of tracers and stabs of red that shot through space, missiles with ghostly blue contrails arched and curved racing toward enemy ships, plasma knifed through space, with a brilliant flash an energy projector discharged which promptly with ease ripped the _Medusa_ the _Vindication_ class apart as internal explosions chained up her length. Explosions dotted the starscape as chaos reigned. Blue pulse laser blasts flew into exhaust trails and diffused, casting a ghostly blue halo around the battle.

Keyes found himself cursing the fact that the _Iroquois_ lacked an AI, the tactical computer was having trouble keeping up with the full blown brawl that was going on. A sudden bright white flash engulfed the Heavy Cruiser as a _Shiva_ class Thermonuclear Warhead detonated and really threw the tac computer with a loop. Plus without an AI it would be almost impossible to mount a proper defense against enemy missiles and single ships, not that Keyes wanted to take the _Iroquois_ into that mess, not with their structural integrity already compromised, and the fact that a single plasma torpedo to their belly would simply gut them.

However, he saw that his crew wanted to get in on the action. They had already been heroes, and wanted to be so again. But with the shape that the _Iroquois_ was in, it simply wasn't possible. But their were other things a heavily damaged ship like the _Iroquois_ could do to help.

Still, Keyes was wondering how the battle was going from the eyes of one of the fighter pilots as a Rapier zoom climbed out of the fray, hot the heels of a _Seraph_.

 **2145 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard F-203 Rapier Interceptor**

 **Over Sigma Octanus IV**

"Where do you think you are going, hot stuff, you need an ass kicking for keeping me away still." Erica said as she stuck to the tail of the _Seraph_ fighter. Erica waited for the right moment before introducing the Covenant flier to the business end of her fighter mainly two three-barrelled 70mm rotary guns, "GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!"

" _And another one for the tally, Skull Leader_ " Heartbreak radioed.

"God damn Covenant why couldn't they take a break?" Erica grumbled.

" _But Skull Leader, it is morning._ " Dreamer radioed.

"Shut the hell up, Dreamer, it's goddamn nearly 2200 and I have been up since morning!" Erica barked, popping flares to avoid taking a hit from an missile that had been launched by a _Moroi_ , she then turned the tables on the bomber and it's wingman, downing them both.

" _Sounds like someone could not catch a break._ " Heartbreak radioed.

"Shut up Heartbreak." Erica grumbled. "Plus, that was a terrible pun."

" _Still amazes me that the Top Ace in the UNSC is still immature as_ _she was during her_ _days in flight school._ " Gertrude radioed.

"You know me better than that, _Ice Queen_." Erica grinned behind her fully enclosed helmet as she got the drop on five Space Banshees and with ease downed them all.

" _Damn it, Bubi, why are you calling me that?!_ " Gertrude barked.

"Pot meet kettle." Erica said.

" _Wow, never knew Ice could get burnt._ " Joker radioed.

" _Skull Thirteen, that was a fucking lame excuse of a joke._ " Race Track radioed.

" _Ah come on, it was not that_ bad _._ " Joker argued.

"Joker, go back to fighting or I will have the technicians disable your comms." Erica threatened, splashing a _Seraph_ as she spoke.

" _Yes ma'am!_ " Joker replied fearfully.

" _Skull Six to Skull Leader! We got another flight of_ Seraphs _coming in! Nine o'clock high!_ " Goldie barked.

"Ah for fuck…. All fighters, not already engaged, move to intercept the newcomers!" Erica ordered.

" _Roger Skull Leader_ " Several of the Jolly Roger fliers responded.

" _This is the 8192nd URF Interceptor Squadron, callsign_ Blackjack _, we can take them for you, if you want._ " A SX3 Interceptor radioed.

"Thanks but no thanks, Blackjack, we can handle it, but you can support the Cosmos Tigers? They got bomber problems, I swear those things _shouldn't_ be that goddamned agile." Erica radioed.

" _This is Cosmo Six, someone get this fucking bomber off my ass!_ " A Cosmos Tiger pilot screamed into the radio as if to prove Erica's point.

" _Understood, Skull Leader, turning now._ " Blackjack-1 replied.

" _They are in missile range_ " Fisher radioed.

"Well let tell them the good news then." Erica said as she and several of her accompanying fliers let their missiles fly right into the face of the _Seraph_ fighters. Evolved Space Phoenix IIs which packed an incredible warhead that detonates with the force of 700 pounds of TNT, the blast easily overwhelmed the shields of the craft and tore the majority of the craft in the ten ship formation apart. However there were three survivors and they had something to say.

" _BREAK! BREAK!_ " Wrecker barked as the _Seraph_ fighters open fired. One pilot however was caught by plasma fire from one of the _Seraph_ fighters. It boiled through the armor and caused one of the fusion torches to detonate utterly annihilating the entire left rear of the Interceptor, sending the fighter into a wild tumble.

" _This is Skull Nineteen, I am hit! I am hit!_ " Erica turned to find where the fighter was.

"Eject, Angel! Eject!" Erica barked.

" _Canopy is jammed! I can't get it to blow!_ " Angel screamed just before her crippled fighter smashed into a crippled a UNSC destroyer, the _Lancelot_ and the Rapier simply shattered into million pieces, the destroyer didn't get out of it unscathed, a sizeable hole was punched into the destroyer's side and thus it resulted in a plume of grey-white gas venting out of the hole for just a few seconds before it stopped as internal bulkheads sealed the breach.

" _Shit! Angel is down! I repeat Angel is down!_ " Hentai shouted.

"Fuck! Fuck! " Erica swore as she immediately turned her fighter around and chased the _Seraph_ that was responsible and all she saw was blood. Then as if just to annoy her, the _Seraph_ used a well-known and very annoying ability, it engaged its Impulse Drive and performed a Micro Slipspace Jump … right onto her six. "Oh, it's you again." Erica said as she began to grin manically. "Oh I am going to enjoy this fight."

" _What? How the hell did that_ Seraph _do_ that _?_ " A Rapier pilot asked.

" _Oh_ _hell_ _… That's the Red Bastard!_ " Heartbreak radioed, " _This is Skull Two to all pilots,_ **stay away** _from that_ Seraph _, you will only be another mark to his tally!_ "

" _So Black Devil, we meet again at last._ " A harsh voice growled over the comms and that resulted in more than a few curses including Vice Admiral Stanforth bellowing over FLEETCOM-7 " _Alright! Whose the asshole that's broadcasting on an open channel?!_ "

" _That would be the Red Bastard, sir_ " Heartbreak radioed, " _The cocky bastard loves to do this just so he can ridicule his opponent._ "

"Red Bastard, I had a feeling it was you, there is only one pilot I know that can pull that off." Erica grinned but her grin vanished when she noticed that his plane was different than the standard model of _Seraph_ , the Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multirole Fighter. The thing was obviously based on the Type-31, but there were noticeable differences. Those differences included what appeared to be the same type of Heavy Plasma Cannon that the Space Banshee was equipped with, it's space frame shape had also changed: despite having the two tails that the _Seraph_ had, the thing was slightly bulkier in design no longer being as flat or piscine for it had wings similar to those on what appeared to be the F-104 starfighter in terms of size, plus the tails each had several small stabilizing fins which meant it was likely more capable in atmo, plus the damn thing appeared to be faster than a normal _Seraph_ , and Erica wouldn't be surprised if the thing had stronger energy shields as well. "But enough talk, let's dance."

" _More than happy to oblige, but are you ready?_ " Red Bastard replied.

"Perhaps." Erica grinned as she pulled the stick back to nose the fighter up and cuts power to her engines while redirecting to her belly thrusters, slowing her down causing Red Bastard to overshoot. Eri then guns the throttle and gets on Red Bastard's tail. "How about you?"

" _Tch, looks like you have improved but._ " Red Bastard radioed. He suddenly kills his engines and hit's the reverse thrusters which forced Erica to turn to avoid him. " _I can do better._ "

"Bring it on, you bastard!" Erica barked as she immediately pulled a hard turn so not be caught in his crosshairs. Thus prolonging the fight much to both pilots' annoyance.

" _Holy shit, those two are just made to fight each other._ " URF pilot commented.

" _Hey, they are moving towards the battleline._ " A Cosmo Tiger pilot commented. It then became the focus of everyone as they saw the two fighters fly into the raging space battle between the UNSC, URF and the Covenant ships.

" _Those two are_ too _insane for their own good._ " Gertrude radioed.

The two rivals continued their waltz despite the fact they were by the second, moving closer and closer to the warships firing at each other and it didn't take long for them to be in the thick of it.

" _This is UNSC_ ANZAC _, who the hell is flying in the middle of a space battle?_ " A UNSC destroyer captain barked into the radio, as the two fighters rocketed over the prow of an _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyer with only a dozen meters to spare.

" _Jesus fucking Christ that was too fucking close! Hey Cosmonaut, get your fliers in order!_ " The heavy destroyer voiced out.

" _This is Heavy Cruiser URF_ Warsaw _, can someone tell the dumb fighter jockeys to get out of the space battle?_ " A URF captain demanded as the two fighters zoomed right past the bridge of the heavy cruiser. Soon they began causing havoc amongst the Covenant ships. The other UNSC pilots couldn't help but laugh at the ships bitching at the two fighters for getting in the middle of their own combat.

"I am so going to kick myself if I make it out alive, the Red Bastard is bad enough." Erica groaned as she ducked, weaved and rolled between the plasma shots, the missiles, and shells that were zipping through the vacuum of space.

" _Having trouble, Black Devil?_ " Red Bastard radioed with mock concern.

"No, I am just peachy, you dumb bastard." Erica replied. Suddenly a bright white antic flash blinded Erica as a one hundred fifty-megaton FENRIS Nuclear Warhead detonated less than sixty kilometers away and when her vision came back, she wished she was still blinded. Her fighter was completely dead as she quickly found out, the controls weren't responding at all. UNSC and URF Fighters, Bombers, and Interceptors were hardened against EMPs, but from the range she just had a FENRIS go off in her face, the EMP had completely nullified her fighter's defenses against EMPs. But that wasn't the worst of it, for as the spots cleared from her vision, she saw to her horror, that the Red Bastard was looping around, his Energy Shields had likely taken the brunt of the Electromagnetic Pulse from that nuke.

 _This is it._ Erica thought, that is until suddenly, despite the fact that it was heavily garbled but discernible, she heard one last transmission from the Red Bastard. _"We'll meet again, Black Devil. I am damn sure of that._ "

With that, he engaged the slipspace jump capability of his Impulse Drive and was gone. This however left Erica with a bigger problem at hand. How the hell was she going to get out of this _mess_ alive?

 **2203 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **UNSC Destroyer** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

 **On the periphery of the Battle in orbit of Sigma Octanus IV**

Captain Keyes had decided that having his ship go after wounded or crippled Covenant ships that were along the outer edges of the battle was a good idea, while there was no honor in the action, it meant that there would be fewer enemy ships that could escape action and fight again. As if to punctuate that point with a rapid fire tenor, the secondary battery on the portside hammered out several rapid fire salvoes toward a crippled Covenant _RPV_ class Light Destroyer. At the sametime, the _Iroquois_ shuddered and shook in protest as Pulse Lasers and Particle Cannon blasts from the enemy ship raked across her hull, scoring the armor and burning small yet deep indentations into the tough AEGIS Battleplate respectively.

The salvo of 15cm projectiles impacted the enemy ship's hull, the starboard side of it's bow crumpled like tissue paper as the 150mm shells, each made out of Depleted Uranium and weighing three hundred pounds slammed into the ship with the force of thirty megatonsof TNT. As the shells ripped out the back, it appeared that the entire portside of it's bow simply shattered outward as the shells left it's hull. The ship spun like a top as atmosphere poured out of the gaping wound.

"Fire Archer Missile Pods alpha six and alpha seven!" Keyes ordered briskly.

"Aye sir!" Hikowa announced and one hundred twenty Fusion Archers were ejected out of their tubes with small puffs of nitrogen and then their engines ignited and they streaked toward the enemy ship, which was beginning to recover, what few Pulse Laser turrets the thing had fired. Blue flashes of light stabbed forth, reaching out at the missiles as they bored in, the Covenant Point Defense fire succeeded in downing roughly thirty missiles and then the balance impacted, their powerful five megaton shape charge warheads tore into the enemy ship with ease and ripped it's hull apart. With a bright blue-flash the ship's plasma reactor went up as the thing went critical and obliterated the rest of the hull. Which resulted in a cheer from the bridge crew and what felt like a triumphant rumble from _Iroquois_ , that was their third kill today, the first one had been a against an unfortunate Frigate that had eaten a MAC round from the _Iroquois_ , an unfortunate _CRS_ class Light Cruiser that had tried to go after the _Yuri Gagarin_ , and now a heavily damaged Covenant Light Destroyer.

Still, something felt off, about the battle that was raging. As if the violent brawl felt like a distraction or something, but Keyes couldn't tell. The tac computer was constantly getting thrown off by the continuous detonations and energy weapons discharging. The feeling had been subtle before, but now it was to the point where Keyes just couldn't ignore it anymore. "Lieutenant Dominique, scan the planet. Something's not right here. Ensign Lovell move us closer to Sigma Octanus Four."

"We're not going to continue to engaging crippled enemy ships sir?" Dominique asked surprised.

"Yes, Lieutenant we are. Something just doesn't feel right here." Keyes replied as the thrusters on the _Iroquois_ fired and pushed the ship onto a new heading. With the battle now in the starboard side camera, it gave an interesting view of the fight, as they watched a plasma torpedo struck the _Leviathan_ and her foredecks burned, atmosphere was vented to stop the plasma from completely melting through the ship.

Also in the chaos of action, the _Fair Weather_ , a _Paris_ class Heavy Frigate collided with a Covenant Frigate that resulting in the ships locking superstructures and going into a wild spin. Moments later, both vessels opened fire at point blank range and the _Fair Weather_ detonated as a shot pierced her hull and caused a Harpoon Nuclear missile to explode, which was also armed. Both ships were engulfed in cataclysmic nuclear hellfire and faded from the tactical display.

"Enemy ship detected in orbit around Sigma Octanus Four, sir." Lieutenant Hall announced.

"Show me." Keyes said and a moment later, the central view screen snapped from showing a somewhat zoomed out look to displaying a ship. The Covenant vessel was most certainly smaller than a Covenant Frigate in fact it was roughly the size of a Covenant Gunboat, however the thing didn't have a beetle like appearance; instead it had a sleek appearance and appeared to be wavering in and out existence. It's hull lacked the odd sheen that Nanolaminate had, plus it wasn't the usual dark blue, purple, or silver that all other Covenant ships had, instead it was painted jet black. Even more baffling was the fact that engine pods were baffled and thus the characteristic purple-white glow that Covenant ships had for the engines was missing.

"Is that a stealth ship?" Keyes asked, amazed that Hall had been able to detect it.

"Yes sir, I think it is. We only managed to detect it when we picked up the scattering from a narrow-beam transmission from the surface in the form a far-infrared laser." Lieutenant Dominique said and then a moment later, Lieutenant Hall piped up. "She's currently in geosynchronous orbit over Côte d'Azur, with their thrusters firing in microbursts, precision station-keeping if I were to wager a guess."

It all clicked, that ship was receiving information down from the surface. The thing had probably been there the whole time, hidden thanks to active camouflage. But now it had dropped it's cloak to a low power level in order to pick up transmissions from the surface. Keyes glanced at the battle raging in the starboard camera, was the vicious duel happening there just a mere distraction?

"Like hell." Keyes muttered in a low voice.

"Ensign Lovell, put us on a collision course with that bastard." He ordered.

"Aye aye, sir!"

"Lieutenant Hall, we need to push our engines as hard as you can, we need as much speed as we can get." Keyes said.

Lieutenant Hall ran a few calculations and then looked at the Captain. "Sir, if we vent our primary coolant and then pump in the reserve we will be able to push the reactors to seventy percent for roughly five minutes."

"Make it so." Keyes said.

The _Iroquois_ began to move toward the thing, sluggishly at first but her velocity increased slowly over time and she quickly began to bear down on the tiny ship.

"Collision with Covenant stealth ship in thirty seconds." Lovell announced.

"Lieutenant Hikowa, arm Archer Missile Pods, Alpha eight through Delta. Blow that Covenant son-of-a-bitch out of the sky." Keyes ordered.

"Aye sir, arming pods." Hikowa said, her long slender fingers dancing over her console. "Pods armed, firing." she said.

The sides of the _Iroquois_ became obscured in fire and smoke as no less than three hundred sixty missiles erupted from their pods, engaged their engines and streaked forth toward the tiny vessel. More than enough firepower to dispatch it's shields and eviscerate it's hull. However the missiles suddenly started to swerve side-to-side, slowly at first becoming more and more noticeable, suddenly the missiles tumbled, completely out of control.

"Mazāfakkā!" Hikowa cursed in her native Japanese, frantically typing in new commands and pressing the **ENTER** key, numerous explosions dotted the area as the destruction codes caused the spent Fusion Archers to self-destruct. "Missile guidance locks got jammed, their ECM spoofed the guidance packages and our main and secondary battery is out of the question for obvious reasons."

It was true, they didn't know what sort of firepower was needed to crack those shields. If they had been positioned differently Keyes would've just MAC'd the stupid thing or would've hit it with the secondary battery. But in this case? The shells would hurtle on and proceed to decimate a good sized portion of Sigma Octanus IV. _No other choice then, they can jam our missiles and our primary and secondary battery are out of the question._ Keyes thought. _Right, let's see them jam_ this _._

"Run them over, Ensign Lovell." Keyes ordered calmly.

Lovell turned in his seat confusion on his face, it lasted for just a moment, then realization dawned on his face and he grinned from ear to ear. "Yes sir!" he said ethusticasically. After all, it wasn't often that you were explicitly given permission to use multi-billion credit Destroyer as a battering ram. Meanwhile it seemed like the _Iroquois_ was safe to say, rather alarmed at the prospect of ramming yet _another_ ship, an annoyed rumble ran through the deck plating.

"Sound collision, all hands brace for impact." Keyes said, a moment later the _Iroquois_ ' collision alarm started blaring and everyone on the bridge braced themselves for the coming impact.

"She's moving." Lovell said as the engines on the Covenant Stealth Ship flashed and it slowly began to increase speed. But just how earlier the UNSC/URF Fleet was in a bad position, with no speed or momentum and thus no way to avoid the impact except start running.

"Keep on her." Keyes ordered as the enemy ship grew in the view screen with each passing moment. "Aye, correcting course now. Hang on!" Lovell said and with a minute burn, the _Iroquois_ adjusted course.

A moment later one million tons of UNSC Heavy Destroyer collided with a vessel that at most likely weighed 50,000 tons if that. In CIC, the impact was felt as a mere bump, it was actually surprising subtle. The effects on the alien ship however _weren't_ subtle, the entire portside of the vessel was crushed like a tomato can that had been run over by a Warthog. The ship tumbled violent, shedding debris and atmosphere, Captain Keyes doubted that after a hit like that they would be able to recover, a good comparison would be a Scorpion MBT going at full speed giving a Mongoose a love tap. The damage was simply catastrophic.

"Damage report!" Keyes bellowed, he needed to know what sort of condition his ship was in. "Lower decks three through eight have been breached sir! But the internal bulkheads have already been lowered and thus no one was in those compartments."

"Good, move us to where that Stealth ship was originally, Ensign Lovell. I want that transmission intercepted, Lieutenant Dominique." Keyes ordered.

"Yes sir!/Aye sir!" The two bridge officers replied. Meanwhile the aft cameras showed the Covenant stealth ship taking a fiery plunge into the atmosphere. It's hull initially began to glow a dull orange before becoming engulfed in crimson fire, a long smokey trail tracing the ship's course downward. The thing was doomed to burn up.

"Sir, the _Iroquois_ is losing altitude, we're starting to enter the atmosphere! Bringing us around!" Lovell said as he spun the _Iroquois_ one hundred eighty degrees and brought the bow up and engaged the thrusters at maximum power. Lovell cursed. "No good! We don't have enough power! Permission to fire the aft emergency thrusters?" He asked as the reactors began to rumble even louder.

"Granted!" Keyes said and a moment with later with a loud _bang_ , the aft emergency thrusters fired and kicked the _Iroquois_ upward. Lovell's uniform was utterly soaked with sweat as he clawed for every centimeter of altitude he could get. After several intense moments he exhaled. "Orbit is stabilizing, barely." He said as he slumped down in his seat and then he turned to face Keyes. "Got it sir. Our thrusters are at precision station keeping." he said, breathing hard.

"We are receiving," Dominique said, before pausing and then glancing at her board. "Receiving something sir, it's must be encrypted. Recorders are active, it's just that the codebreaker software can't figure it out, sir."

Captain Keyes turned back to the tactical displays half-expecting to see a Covenant ship in firing position. To his relief, one wasn't in firing position, but then again … there wasn't much left of the two fleets, numerous ships: human and Covenant lay utterly destroyed or disabled. Some of the intact ships vented atmosphere or had visible fires crackling within their hulls or both in some cases. The remaining ships moved slowly, as if they were exhausted.

Then a problem reared it's ugly head. The _DAS_ class Supercarrier which was completely untouched wheeled around and began to advance on them, with a downright obvious intent.

"Oh fuck." Lovell muttered his tone filled with dread. The _Iroquois_ as powerful and tough as she was, simply couldn't go barrel-to-barrel with a Supercarrier. It was simply impossible, now if that was a _RPV_ class Destroyer? Bring it, but a Supercarrier? No way in hell.

"Lieutenant Hall, get me the _Leviathan_ , right damn now, priority Alpha channel." Keyes ordered as he eyed the hulking monster, fourteen kilometers long, five kilometers wide, and nine hundred meters tall, armed with no less than sixteen plasma turrets with seven on each of the ship's lateral lines and two on the prow, thousands of pulse laser turrets, no less than thirty dual heavy Particle Cannon turret, four Heavy Antimatter Missile tubes in the bow and eight Heavy Antimatter missile tubes on the port and starboard side, oh and _five_ Energy Projectors with one forward, two ventral, and two dorsal.

"Aye, aye sir!" she said.

A moment later, Vice Admiral Stanforth appeared in the holotank. He had a gash across his forehead and blood was trickling into his eyes. He wiped it away with a shaking hand, he then looked at Keyes with a surprised look. " _What's the matter, Captain? I thought that the_ Iroquois _was destroying crippled enemy ships._ " he said, completely understanding how Keyes didn't take the _Iroquois_ into that pitched battle.

"We were, sir. That is until we detected and destroyed a Covenant Stealth Ship that was in geosynchronous orbit over Côte d'Azur and are now in the process of intercepting a secure transmission from the planet's surface."

Stanforth blinked in surprise and stared at him for a moment unbelievingly for a moment and then nodded in understanding as if it suddenly made sense to him. " _Proceed._ "

"That Covenant Supercarrier is leaving the battle and bearing down on us. Whatever we may be intercepting is probably whatever the hell the Covenant came to Sigma Octanus IV for and they don't want us to find out about it." Keyes said.

" _Understood son. Hang in there, the cavalry is on it's way._ " Stanforth replied and then the holotank winked off. The aft cameras revealed as the _Leviathan_ and twelve other ships, including the heavily damaged _Medusa_ swung their bows around, breaking off their attack from the Covenant ships they were engaging and then heading toward the Supercarrier.

Five ships fired their MAC guns and eleven Depleted Uranium Projectiles shot through space. The first six bounced off the shields, knocking the ship almost all the way through the Y-axis -causing Keyes to wince, it was probably pure hell inside that thing right now- the next five shots then tore through the Supercarrier's belly and caused the first four and half kilometers of ship to simply shattered under the hammering impacts. "Lieutenant Hall, send this to the _Leviathan_. "Thanks for the aid."." Keyes said.

"Yessir!" Lieutenant Hall replied.

"Transmission ended, sir. It was cut-off at the source in midpacket." Dominique suddenly announced.

"Damnit, try and get that signal back Lieutenant." Keyes ordered. Considering that there was actually no other enemy ships in a position close enough to threaten them, he decided it was worth the risk.

"Sir!" Lieutenant Hall suddenly cried. "Look!"

Keyes did and was stunned by what he saw. The surviving enemy ships were breaking off combat, they were scattering, and starting to accelerate out system!

"My God, they're running!" Lieutenant Hikowa said, her normal iron calm voice filled with pure shock, amazement, and above all a celebratory tone. Within minutes the surviving Covenant ships had fled and had disappeared into slipstream space.

Keyes checked the various cameras and saw that their was only about twenty-two ships that could still maneuver, fourteen UNSC ships and the rest were URF ships. The rest of the various vessels had been either destroyed or disabled. A _victory_ after several years they had finally _won_.

Captain Keyes sat heavily in his command chair. "Ensign Lovell take us back the way we came. Make ready to take on wounded, repressurize all uncompromised decks." Keyes ordered.

"Jesus Christ, sir. I think that we actually … _won_ that one." Lieutenant Hall said, her tone mildly celebratory.

"Yes, Lieutenant. We _did_ win that one." Keyes replied, but deep down he got this feeling that whatever the hell the Covenant had come to Sigma Octanus Four for, they may have found it.

 **AN: Alright, that chapter is done folks. So, we finally got to watch the chaos of combat occur, a hellish brawl between the forces of good and evil that resulted in orbit a win for the good guys. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not much to say, well that was one hell of a fight and Amirah was just about to lose her lover but lucky for her, Red Bastard was honorable.**

 **Thor: Yeah, some Elites believed it is dishonorable to strike down a foe who is helpless and can't fight back.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: So how was that folks for some ship on ship action? I hope it was pretty good and worthwhile. Anyway, we really focused on the space aspect of the Battle for Sigma Octanus IV and now we know how long the action lasted, roughly. Still, I bet you really want to see that Spartan vs. Hunter fight, little word of warning, Chief gets tossed around a bit, then again Hunter encounter bound to happen. Anything to add General?**

 **General: Not really besides watch what you say.**

 **2035 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **D+00:02:45:55 - Spartan-117 Mission Clock**

 **Côte d'Azur, Sigma Octanus Four**

It was time to arm the Nuke. The small device packed immense firepower, whereas a HAVOK even a mining-grade variant was a thirty megaton device with a military grade warhead having a yield of fifty megatons. Still, the FURY Tac Nuke with its yield set to fifteen Megatons was more than powerful enough to destroy Côte d'Azur in it's entirety and thus wipe the Covenant infection off the planet. Also on the plus side, the device was extremely clean, with very little fallout.

John carefully removed the coverings on the two adhesive bonding strips that were on the nuke and then secured it to the concrete wall of the sewer where the adhesive hardened and firmly secured the nuke, a powerful two-stage Fusion Bomb. He then pulled out the detonator key and slotted it into a thin slot on the bomb case and instead of the device lighting up or giving any other indicators, instead a small window opened on his hud. **FURY ARMED: AWAITING DETONATION SIGNAL**.

But, not even the powerful COM gear on a starship could punch through all the concrete and steel that surrounded them. In order to trigger the nuclear firestorm, they'd have to rig up another ground-return transceiver on the pipes overhead and then put another unit outside with a hotline to the first unit in order to set off the fusion nuclear firestorm.

Still, this left the Chief with a bit of a dilemma, this dilemma came from how the Covenant were going around protecting the Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History, there was at least a platoon of black armored Special Forces on the streets above, thousands of Grunts, Jackals, and Skirmishers, plus three medium-sized Transport Ships. On top of that the advance Marine forces had been slaughtered, which meant that the Spartans had no backup. Plus, technically his mission parameters had been fulfilled: Green and Red Teams would have the civilian survivors out of the city soon - although with one severely wounded it was somewhat slow going, plus the Fury nuke was armed and ready to turn Côte d'Azur into a crater. On top of that, they had seen first hand what the true capability of the Covenant Engineers: the fact that they disassembled and reassembled equipment, gear, and most likely kit as well at an incredibly fast rate; thus making them similar to a scientist or engineer stripping down a device to learn it's secrets.

But with all the Covenant infantry and likely armor as well topside, himself and his team _should_ pull out. Considering all of the Covenant that was here, but the fact that they weren't using the Natural History Museum as well as the rest of the city for target practice but instead appeared to be _protecting_ the building for some reason. Well it went against everything he had ever seen the Covenant do, he had seen Elites fight in hand to hand combat rather than touch a fully loaded MA5 Assault Rifle that was in easy reach, although the same couldn't be said for Jackals and Brutes he had seen them use human weapons on occasion.

Still his orders gave him an unusual amount of flexibility which actually made him feel slightly uncomfortable. His orders had been to reconnoiter the region and gather intelligence on the Covenant disposition here and set up a nuke to destroy the enemy forces in Côte d'Azur and rescue any civilian survivors that they found, with that either completed or nearly completed. Which meant that Chief now had to focus on getting his team out intact, however on the opposite side of the coin he was absolutely positive that there was something important that the Covenant was guarding. So finding out what the reason was that the Covenant had seized the Museum of Natural History and were guarding it _definitely_ qualified as intelligence gathering in his book.

Still, was it worth exposing his team to find out? And if they died would he have wasted their lives or would he have spent them finding something that was worthwhile? Still, it was his call and he decided that it would be best to take his team in to find out what the Covenant was up too.

"Master Chief?" Kelly whispered. "Our orders, sir?"

With a mere thought, the Chief opened Blue Team's All hands frequency on the COM. "We're going in, use your silencers. We aren't to engage the enemy unless it's absolutely necessary; this place is way too hot. We'll just poke our noses in and see what they're up too and then bug out." he said.

Three acknowledgement lights winked on in response. The Master Chief knew that they implicitly trusted him and his judgement and he also knew that if it came down to it, they had been worse situations than this. Still, he knew that he was worthy of their trust, twenty-seven years of almost constant combat against the Covenant would do that.

The Spartans checked their gear and carefully threaded the silencers onto the barrels of their MA6s and then slipped silently down a wide side passage in the sewer. When they got to the end of the path, there was a rusty ladder that led up to a steel plate that had been welded firmly in place.

"Thermite paste already set up." Fred reported, a lighter held in his hand, ready to ignite the magnesium strips that served as the fuse for the thermite paste. "Burn it." The Chief ordered before stepping to the side and looking away. A moment later, the thermite sputtered and erupted into life with a brilliant flame that glowed as hot as a electric-arc welder, casting harsh shadows throughout the passageway as it ate through the steel with ease. After it went out, it's job completed it had burned a jagged, glowing red circle into the metal.

The Master Chief climbed as carefully and as quietly as he could up the ladder and then pushed his back up against the plate and pushed. It snapped free of the manhole with a sharp metallic _snap_. With that done he eased the plate down and set aside, followed shortly by attaching the fiber optic probe to his helmet and snaked up out the manhole and swept it around the room. All clear.

He flexed his legs and the reactive circuits in his Mjolnir Armor propelled him up through the hole, he pulled himself up into the next chamber with his left hand, secured firmly in his right hand was his assault weapon as if it weighed no more than a M6D Magnum. He braced for enemy fire to come at him -

\- Nothing happened.

He moved forward and quickly swept the room. It was small, and made out of stone meaning that it was likely part of the basement. The CMA's file on this building said that it had a stone foundation. The chamber was dark and shelving units lined the walls, on each shelving unit were jars filled with a clear fluid and insect specimens while boxes and crates were stacked neatly on the floor.

Kelly then entered the room, followed shortly by Fred and then James. " _Picking up motion sensor signals, strength two._ " Kelly said over the COM.

"Jam them." Chief ordered, the last thing the needed was a bunch of Covenant dropping on their heads.

" _Done, but they may have gotten a piece of us though._ " Kelly replied over the COM.

"Alright, spread out." John ordered. "Get ready to jump back in the hole in case things get too hot. Otherwise initiate standard distract and destroy."

Three acknowledgement lights winked back at him, it was time to start the search. Suddenly, the distinct sound of alien hooves clattering on marble echoed behind a door to their right. Without any orders or hand-signals, the four Spartans melted into the shadows. The Master Chief crouched behind a crate and unsheathed his combat knife, pulling it out from a compartment in his armor's forearm plating.

A moment later, the door opened and four Jackals led by a Skirmisher Champion trudged into the room. All of the Jackals were of a new rank that had never been seen before, the thing that stood out was the fact that the energy shield gauntlet was bright purple in color. The energy shields were active and warped the already ugly faces of the aliens. The Master Chief instantly recognized the rookie mistake that the Jackals were making. _Good,_ he thought. _That glow ought to play hell with their night vision._

Each Jackal held Plasma Pistols in their grasp. The vaguely claw shaped devices emitted a green glow, they were held at the ready in the Jackal's free hand, they moved erratically as the aliens whispered to each other … the weapons then steadied and the aliens using careful and slow movements moved into the room.

The aliens fanned out into a rough "delta" formation - the leader of the group: the Skirmisher was a full meter ahead of the other aliens. Firmly in its grasp was a Needler. The group slowly approached the Chief's position, if they discovered him; he'd be forced to go loud and then his plan for extra recon would be impossible to pull off.

One of the Spartans knew it as well. For a sudden yet slight noise: the clink of glass bottles on the other side of the room.

The Jackals and Skirmisher turned toward the source of the noise. But they neglected to have one watching their six. The Chief made them pay for that tactical error.

He exploded from his hiding spot, driving his combat knife into the base of the back of the closest Jackal. The blade effortlessly punched through the plating of the creature's armor and through its flesh and severed its spinal column. The Jackals and Skirmishers were just beginning to realize that something was wrong, the Chief yanked out his combat knife and struck out at a Jackal. A powerful kick from his right foot caught the next closet's Jackal square in the back of the head and utterly pulverised it.

The remaining aliens squawked in shock as they spun. They leveled their weapons at the Chief when three silent coughs sounded, and blood erupted from the aliens as two silenced MA6s and a silenced BR55HB SR coughed quietly, the rounds finding their marks and dropping their targets. The avian aliens toppled to the ground.

Chief policed their plasma pistols and needler, he also retrieved their the shield generators clamped on their arms. He just like the rest of the UNSC and URF had standing orders to recover Covenant tech intact if possible. ONI hadn't been able to replicate Covenant Energy Shielding, although he had heard that they were getting close.

However in the meantime, Blue Team would these. The forearm mounted energy shield gauntlets were rather simple devices. A curved piece of metal that housed the shield emitter and two buttons: on and off. He pressed the first button and purple colored, scintillating film appeared in front of him. He pressed the other button and the shield collapsed. The thing was incredibly useful for dealing with hostile energy weapons fire, just as long as you remembered to crouch to hide your lower legs.

He handed the Jackal Shields out to his team. "Use them only if it's absolutely necessary." he said. "The humming and glow could give your position away plus we don't know how long they will last."

Three acknowledgement lights winked on his HUD.

With that task done, the Spartans of Blue Team stacked up, with Blue Two and Blue Three stacked up on the door. Kelly took point, she scanned the passage beyond and gave a thumbs up, the Spartans then moved out. With Kelly on point, they moved up a circular marble stairway with all the quietness of a cat in a single file line.

When they got to the door, Kelly opened it and stood in the doorway for a full ten seconds before shaking her head. " _All clear, strange._ " she said. Before waving them in and Blue Team emerged onto the main floor of the lobby of the museum.

The Master Chief had to admit that Kelly was right. Something was quite simply _wrong_ , but Chief couldn't put his finger on it.

Suspended over the main foyer was the massive skeleton of a Blue Whale, in a way it reminded him of the shape of Covenant Cruisers. He turned his head away from the distraction and slowly moved across the black marble tiles, past the front desk which was blackened by plasma fire. Oddly however, there were no more Jackal/Skirmisher patrols, however considering the amount of Covenant outside, it was more than a little strange. Thus the Chief didn't like this one bit, it didn't feel right … during his training which seemed like a lifetime ago, Chief Mendez had told him nearly countless times to trust his instincts. Were they walking into a trap?

It was at times like this that made Chief wish that Kurt was still alive. While he was the most sociable of the Spartans, he also had quite the knack for sniffing out traps. He would've been able to tell if they were walking into a trap. Still, the Chief had to make do with what he had, but he couldn't tell if they were walking into a trap.

"Be on on your guard Blue Team, we may have to deal with Hunters." Chief said over the COM and three acknowledgement lights winked back at him.

The Spartans staggered their formation and moved through the east wing of the museum. There were various displays of the local flora and fauna: gigantic flowers and beetles the size of his fist. However their motion sensors were cold, it was about as quiet as tomb.

Suddenly Fred halted, he then made a brief yet quick hand signal waved John up to his position. " _I got a really bad feeling about this, sir._ " Fred said over the COM as he stood by a large case that held butterflies that had been pinned to the backing. However that's not what had made Fred utter that phrase, instead it was what was lying on the floor, face down in front of that case; it was a Jackal. The vaguely avian alien was dead, literally crushed flat, in it's back -or rather what _had_ been the alien's back- was the imprint of a large boot. Whatever the hell had done this must have weighed a full ton at least.

That made him realize what could have simply walked over the unfortunate Jackal without a care in the universe. A Hunter. The Master Chief looked around and spotted several blood-smeared prints leading away from the squashed alien and into the west wing. He flipped on his infrared sensors and took a thorough and long look around, but found no heat sources here or in the nearby rooms. Deciding that like it or not, they would have to deal with a Hunter pair in order to find out why the Covenant had invaded Sigma Octanus IV and why they only invaded the city of Côte d'Azur, he signaled the team to move on and told them about the Hunters.

The Chief got the feeling that under their helmets the Spartans either groaned or grimaced. Hunters could give Spartans trouble, considering that they weighed in on average between 4,500 to 5,000 kilograms and in combat were over nine feet tall, plus were equipped with a massive shield that few infantry weapons in the UNSC's arsenal could penetrate and combined with a powerful Assault Cannon that could give MBTs headaches well it resulted in one hell of a foe.

The west wing of the museum held scientific displays. There were static electricity generators and quantum field holograms were on the walls, a tapestry of darting arrows and wiggling lines adorned the opposite wall, in a corner sat a cloud chamber, subatomic tracers zipping through its misty confines -he noted that it was unusually active. A large holographic table sat in the center of the wing, showing currently how the muscular structure of a African Lion worked when the animal was running. This place in general reminded him of Déjà's classroom back on Reach.

The branch opened into another wing, carved into the entry arch was the world **GEOLOGY**. Suddenly through that arch, a bright infrared source came into life. He caught a brief glimpse of it before there was a wink and a blink, then the source was gone. It had been so powerful and bright that it had overloaded his suit's IR sensors and caused them to shut down automatically. Whatever was the source of that massive IR spike, it must have had enough juice in it to send a signal straight up into space. They were definitely onto something here, he signaled his team: he had James take the left side of the arch and had Kelly and Fred to drop back in order to cover their flanks. Meanwhile John edged to the right side of the arch. He sent his Fiber Optic probe ahead and bent it slightly, allowing him to see into the next room.

The next room contained numerous display cases of various mineral and rock samples. Sulfur Crystals, pieces of unpolished indigenous black marble, raw cut emeralds, and rubies. In the center of the room was a sizable monolith of unpolished pink quartz, the thing was six meters tall in height and three meters wide.

However, at first the Master Chief didn't see the Hunters because they were so motionless and massive. He had no doubt in his mind that one of those two bemonths had squashed the unfortunate Jackal flat merely because it had been in the Hunter's way. However the lack of Covenant patrols inside the museum suddenly made sense; Covenant ground troops and vehicles would often pull out just so they wouldn't get in the way of a Hunter pair.

As usual when facing the Covenant, the Master Chief would admit openly that he always got a little scared when fighting the Covenant, it was the body's natural reaction after all. But he like all Spartans acknowledged the apprehension mentally and then put it to the back of his mind and then continue the mission like he had been trained too. But Hunters always made that feeling harder to dismiss and rightfully so, he had seen Hunters, swinging their massive shield either cut or nearly cut Marines, Troopers, and ODSTs clean in half and he had also seen them literally walk-off a near _miss_ from a Rhino MBT's main gun firing _High-explosive Fragmentation_ rounds.

The two aliens moved with slow and careful deliberation, one of the massive aliens with extreme care that seemed unusual for it's massive size took a rock from a display case and set it inside a small red metal case. The second alien then turned and touched a control panel for a device that looked like a miniature pulse laser turret, the thing was pointed straight up and out through the shattered glass dome overhead. That must have been the source of the infrared radiation, the laser must have scattered off the dust in the air and even then succeeded in flashing enough energy into his suit's IR sensors from a distance of at least eight meters away and burned them out.

The Chief made a slow fist, signalling his team to freeze. Then with slow, careful, and deliberate motions he signaled Blue Team to stay alert and to get ready. He waved Fred and Kelly forward; Fred crept closer to him and Kelly moved closer to James. He then held up two fingers and made a quick sideways cut and motioned his Spartans into the room. Acknowledgement lights winked on in response.

He went in first and sidestepped to the right, with Fred following and at his side. While James and Kelly took the left flank. The Chief blinked his status light three times in rapid succession: the signal to open fire.

The MA6s and BR55HB SR came to life, their coughs muffled as they slung rounds at the massive aliens. The rounds from the Assault Weapons and Battle Rifle were struggling to even _scratch_ the armor of the two titans which both turtled behind their shields and moved to cover both the red box and the IR laser communications turret.

One of the alien's raised its arm ever-so-slightly and pointed it at Kelly and James. A green glow built in the muzzle for several seconds before discharging and a moment later an thunderous explosion and a very noticeable wave of heat filled the room, the sudden discharge in the dark chamber flash-blinded the Master Chief and forced him to blink for a full three seconds in order to get the spots out of his eyes.

Where both Kelly and James had been there was now a burning crater that fanned backward. The science chamber behind where the two Spartans had been was completely and utterly destroyed … reduced to ash and charcoal in an instant. Kelly had moved in time, she was now in a crouch a full five meters deeper into the room, still firing. James was nowhere to be seen, but according TEAM BIO he was still alive, but in bad shape, John figured that he was likely trying to regain his wits when he didn't reappear. A moment later, the COM crackled and James spoke up. " _Crap, that hurt. Uh ... Chief I got a slight problem here._ " he said through gritted teeth.

Before the Master Chief could inquire about the extent of James's problem. The second Hunter turned to face him and raised its arm and a green glow built in the muzzle of the Assault Cannon. _Uh-oh._ John thought as he hit the button on his forearm mounted shield generator and brought it up just in the nick of time as the alien's weapon flashed as it discharged.

The air in front of the Chief shimmered and then exploded with incredible force. He flew backward crashing through the wall and skidded for ten meters before slamming into the wall of the next room with so much force that he was partially embedded into it. _And that's why I hate fighting Hunters._ John thought bitterly, before rapidly extricating himself from the wall and ripping the half-melted Jackal Shield Generator off his arm and throwing it away.

Suddenly he was forced to tuck into a roll as another shot sailed over his head and hit the wall behind him. The explosion was absolutely deafening and the shockwave catapulted him forward three meters, he converted his momentum into a forward roll and came up running and charged back into the fray. It appeared that the other Hunter had decided to take a shot at a motionless target but hadn't counted on the speed and agility of a Spartan-II.

Still, that first Hunter's Assault Cannon had recharged a lot faster than they usually did. This meant that the Spartans had less time to take them out before they would be forced to dodge. A moment later another blast rent the air. " _Christ, that was too close._ " Fred announced over the COM. " _I guess the Covenant have seriously upgraded their Assault Cannons._ " he continued.

Meanwhile, the fear that the Master Chief felt was now stronger than ever before. Although not as high as it would get when engaging Special Operations/Ultra Hunters, those things had Shade Plasma Cannons instead of an Assault Cannon and could cut down Infantry will alarming speed and on it's higher settings tear the crap out of lightly armored vehicles. Still he couldn't afford to indulge in a luxury such as feelings. He had to help his team.

Kelly and Fred circled the two Hunters, their silenced weapons firing in quick accurate bursts that sparkled off the armor of the massive aliens, they expended their magazines and promptly reloaded in unison before continuing their relentless barrage against the two massive aliens. This wasn't working, they didn't have the firepower to take on Hunters and Chief wasn't up for climbing onto one of the monsters to stick a grenade into its midsection, not with it's twin so close, because you killed one Hunter and the other would usually go absolutely nuts.

His gaze was drawn to the pink monolith in the center of the room and he got an idea. It was crazy, but it could work. He toggled to the COM. "Switch to shredder rounds, fire at their feet." He ordered before doing just that. Fred and Kelly changed rounds and fired as well.

Now one of thing note. Usually the standard ammunition that was issued to Troopers, Marines, and ODSTs was AP-FMJ and AP-FMJ-T but other types of rounds were used, including shredder rounds which were basically hollow-point projectiles and thus these rounds tore Skirmishers, Brutes, and Grunts apart easily. The bullet themselves were consisted of several segments of a hard metal that is welded together with a soft metal such as lead. The welds acts as weak points, so that on impact, the bullet should separate along the welds into component segments. This spreads the damage over a larger area, but it also decreases the penetrating power. These rounds are surrounded with a fluted or perforated metal jacket in order to provide optimal fragmentary habits, as opposed to a haphazard disintegration which would do less damage. Thanks to their reduced penetration they weren't as effective as AP-FMJ or SAPHE rounds were against shielded enemies, particularly the Energy Shields of the Elites, although they could tear through Brute Energy Shields in short order.

Against marble tiles with a wooden support structure underneath, the rounds simply began to tear the area apart. Tiles shattered like glass and wooden splintered as if it was going through an invisible wood chipper. One of the Hunters raised its arm, preparing to fire another shot when the floor began to creak and buckle.

The Hunter with it's arm cannon raised suddenly lowered it, glanced at it's comrade and let out a deep low rumble that was more felt instead of heard. The Master Chief got the feeling that the Hunter had just said something that was likely along the lines of "Oh fuck, forgot about the floor." Then a second later, the floor caved in under the weight of ten tons of Covenant Hunter and dropped them into basement with a thundering _crash_. "Quick," He said as he slung his rifle and went to the back of the monolith. "Push!"

Kelly and Fred leaned their weight against the massive monolith and pushed, grunting with exertion. The slab moved just a tiny bit, but not enough to send it tumbling over. Suddenly James sprinted forward and slammed into the stone, putting his shoulder alongside theirs and _pushed_. It was at this point that the Chief realized the extent of James's problem … his left arm had been completely burned away from the elbow down and the stump was wrapped in a tourniquet, which considering the way they were going to exfil from the city was to likely help prevent infection from setting in. But despite being down half an arm, James didn't even whimper in pain.

The monolith moved, slowly but it inched toward the hole. Reached a tipping point and the thing tilted and went over. It landed with a dull, resounding _thud_ that resounded in one's chest and a wet _crunch_.

The Chief peered over the edge and saw that a singular armored left leg from one Hunter and an arm likely from the other Hunter were struggling underneath. The damned things were still alive, for their motions slowed but never completely ceased. That's when he saw that the red case was balanced precariously on the edge of the hole. It looked like it was going to fall in, no way to reach it in time. The thing teetered, he turned to Kelly -the fastest Spartan- and yelled: "Grab it!"

The box toppled and fell and Kelly leaped.

In a single bound, she caught the rock as it fell out of the case while it dropped, she landed, tucked into a roll, and got to her feet. The rock safely held in one hand, she handed it to the Master Chief.

The rock in question was a piece of granite and it glittered with a few jewel-like inclusions. What was so damn special about it? He decided to leave finding that out to the spooks and thus just stuffed it into his ammunition sack and then kicked over the Covenant transmission beacon. Outside, the sounds of Grunts, Jackals, and Skirmishers clattering and squawking resounded. There was an army of the things outside and they were probably wondering what the hell had just happened. Chief didn't intend to be here when they figured it out and rushed the museum.

"Let's get out of here, Spartans." he ordered.

He then threw an arm around James to help him along and they moved out. They ran into the basement, making sure that they gave the two Hunters which were still struggling to move the monolith that pinned them a wide berth and then jumped through the storm drain and into the sewers.

They trotted through the muck and didn't stop for anything, but they took care to make sure that James's tourniquet didn't get wet; otherwise infection was all but certain. When they had cleared the drain system and were on the edge of the rice paddies that were on the edge of Côte d'Azur, Fred rigged up another ground-return relay and a crude antenna so that they could activate the nuke.

After the antenna was set up, they moved quickly toward the coast. Chief took one last look at the city, the three Covenant ships had powerful spotlights engaged that were bathing the streets in a blue illumination. The Grunts were going absolutely batshit crazy, their barks and screams filled the air creating an impenetrable din. When the Spartans got to the coast, they followed the route that Red Team had taken into the city, following the treeline south towards the rendezvous point. Twice along the way, James collapsed and later slipped into unconsciousness. When that happened, the Master Chief slung him over his shoulder and carried him.

Blue Team paused and then hid when they heard a Covenant patrol: ten Grunts led by a pair of Elites, they heading back toward Côte d'Azur, moving as fast as the Grunts could go. The enemy either didn't see them or if they did simply didn't care. They thundered past the Spartans and once the aliens were out of sight continued heading towards the RV point.

When they were a mere click away, the Master Chief opened the COM link. "Green Actual, we're on your perimeter and coming in. Signalling with blue smoke." he said.

" _Ready and waiting for you, sir._ " Linda replied. " _Welcome back._ "

The Master Chief pulled out one of his smoke grenades, pulled the pin and threw it. The grenade landed and within moments, luminous blue smoke was drifting skyward and he then trudged into the clearing. A few moments later, with a thundering roar, the Pelican appeared; the dropship was intact. Corporal Harland and his Marines had stood post and the rescued civilians were inside. The Pelican had a troop deployment pod installed on the back which allowed for fifteen more people to ride in the dropship. Which was now very useful, because there had been survivors. Hidden in the brush nearby was Blue and Red Teams.

Linda approached them and seeing the state that James was in, motioned for her team to take him and get him onboard the Pelican. "Sir," she said. "All civilian survivors are alive and onboard the Pelican, ready for dustoff."

The Chief nodded in response, it was at this point in the mission where everyone tended to want to relax, sit down, and take a nap. But this was actually more often than not the most dangerous part of any mission, because with safety in sight and within easy reach, you could let your guard down and if the enemy ambushed you it would often be catastrophic.

"Good. Take one last look around the perimeter and double check so that we are sure that nothing followed us back."

"Yessir."

As Linda signaled for Green Team to double check the perimeter and the four Spartans began to disperse like ghosts. Corporal Harland walked up to him and saluted. "Chief? How did you manage to do it? Those civilians said that you managed to get them out of city even when there was an army of Covenant there, sir. How?" Harland asked sounding awed.

John cocked his head quizzically. "It was our mission, Corporal. Nothing more." he said.

Harland stared at him and then at the other Spartans, his eyes wide and then he nodded in understanding. "Yes sir."

When Green Actual reported that the perimeter was all clear, the last of the Spartans boarded the Pelican. James had also regained consciousness. Someone had removed his helmet and had propped his head on a survival blanket. However when he saw the Chief, he grunted with a bit of exertion and although his eyes were watering from the pain, he managed to with his right arm salute the Master Chief, a salute which he returned. After James had lowered his arm, John then gestured at Kelly and she administered a dose of painkillers and James lapsed into unconsciousness.

The pitch of the engines for the Pelican increased as the pilot demanded more power from them. The dropship lifted into the air and in the distance, the twin suns of the Sigma Octanus system were warming the horizon and their glow of dawn outlined the city of Côte d'Azur which now only had a few minutes left in terms of existence.

Suddenly the Pelican accelerated at full speed straight up, it's engines letting out a thundering roar. The dropship then angled away from the city, heading south.

The COM crackled. " _Sir, we're getting multiple incoming radar contacts … about, holy, about two hundred Banshees inbound._ " The pilot said.

"We'll take care of it, Lieutenant." John replied. "Prepare for EMP and shock wave."

Kelly stood up and began barking out instructions, telling the civilians to look away from rear hatch and to not look back until ten seconds after the initial flash and instructing the Marines to polarize their visors to it's fullest extent or to do the same as the civilians. The Spartans did the same as well, mainly because the flash from a nuclear could literally cause someone to go blind.

The Master Chief activated his remote radio transceiver. He keyed in the final fail-safe code and then sent the coded burst on it's way.

The transmission was received by the antenna and sent to the ground-return transceiver and it raced along the conduits till it reached the other ground-return transceiver and then reached the bomb. The small onboard computer identified the signal and detonated the bomb, the whole process for detonating the FURY nuke from start to finish took only 550 nanoseconds.

A third sun erupted to life on the horizon, almost instantly blotting out the light from the dual suns that were rising. Within a second of the nuke detonating there was already an expansive fireball nearly four point five miles in diameter and still growing. As the fireball thinned and cooled, it revealed a tremendous mushroom cloud. The core of said cloud already hotter than the surface of the sun, anything within the city was already dead or would most likely be dead by the end of the day.

"Mission accomplished." The Chief said.

 **0500 Hours, July 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard the UNSC Carrier** _Yuri Gagarin_ **CVH-35**

 **Military Staging Area in orbit of Sigma Octanus IV**

Erica Hartmann pushed open the cockpit of canopy of her F-203 Rapier Interceptor, a Pelican Dropship had picked up her semi-trashed fighter and had carried it back to the _Gagarin_ , which was the only the Carrier to survive more-or-less intact, but even she hadn't escaped the carnage unharmed. She had seen the distinctive damage from Particle Cannons, Pulse Lasers, and at least one Plasma Torpedo adorning the ship's hull; the only other carrier which had been through the thick of the fighting and had come out of it with literally nary a scratch on her was the _Musashi_ and she had been in the thick of the fighting.

One thing she had noticed as her Rapier had been guided into the stall was that it seemed like the artificial gravity was disabled which turned out to be true when she unbuckled and clambered out of the cockpit and stepped off the ladder, the momentum pushed her forward and she floated off toward the ceiling. Fortunately she recovered quickly and let her momentum carry her to the ceiling where she reoriented herself and pushed down back toward the floor. When she landed, she made sure to brace herself and then grabbed ahold of a support and slowly pulled herself up to her feet.

She hated microgravity. This on-top of the fact that Angel had been killed, along with four pilots. Plus three other pilots had been shot down but had managed to eject from their fighters. To say that she was in a bad mood was an understatement. So after she took off her helmet and left the hanger to go get changed and bumped -literally- into Joker, she wasn't in the mood.

"Oh, hello ma'am, didn't think of bumping into you here." Joker said.

"Joker, I do hope that was not a fucking pun." Erica groaned.

"Sorry ma'am, I didn't meant to say that." Joker sheepishly said.

"Think before you speak next time or it will get you a fist in your face." Erica warned.

"Yeah, but I have been I have a very punchable face." Joker said without thinking again.

"You did it again, you dumbass." Erica tiredly pointed out. _I am not surprised._

"Oops, looks likes I am really a bad joker huh?" Joker said, "Well at least Angel is in a place she belongs.

"Flight Lieutenant Eugene Adams Peterson." Erica said stoically.

"Ma'am...?" Joker asked nervously, He did not get a verbal response but he did get a physical reply; a fist to his face, "Ah Fuck!"

"Flight Lieutenant Eugene Adams Peterson," Erica repeated as she glared at her pilot, "You are demoted to Flight Sergeant and I want you out of my squadron and you are prohibited to rejoin my squadron as long as it still exists; effective immediately."

"But… ma'am" Joker tried to argue back but Erica was having none of it.

"You have tried my patience for long enough Peterson." Erica barked, "Ever since you came to my squadron, every time there is something bad that happens to this squadron, you are always involved one way or another! Now go before I get the Marines to detain you."

"Yes ma'am." Joker uttered softly before he head down the hangar away from Erica.

"A bit harsh, don't you think, Skull Actual?" Erica turned to see her wingman, Heartbreak looking at her.

"Oh don't give me that look, he deserves so much more for that Angel comment alone." Erica said. "Now if you excuse me, I want to go to my quarters."

Heartbreak watched his commander float to her quarters before he glanced over to the corridor Joker went down, "Damn it, you sure screwed up this time."

Erica quietly made her way to her quarters, quietly acknowledging those who greeted her. She then floated into her quarters, and as she did so fell to the ground, apparently artificial gravity had been partially restored, which she found was a complete mess.

"Just great…" Erica groaned as she looked at her quarters. She decided to start cleaning her quarters so she can sleep in peace. She began putting her loose items into the compartments in her drawers and lockers. However she paused when she looked at a picture of her squadron just three days ago. The picture showed twenty-four faces, but now? Now her squadron was down five good people, gone from this world forever and into the next one, in addition to that two other pilots had suffered broken bones when they had ejected. Erica couldn't help but feel her heart twist when she looked at five pilots: _Gunner, Fisher, Imam, Hentai_ and _Angel_ who would no longer occupy the roster, it was more painful when Erica's eyes landed on Angel who in the photo was standing right behind Erica and she had the biggest and brightest smile.

Erica could not help but smile as Angel reminded her of Francesca as she was full of energy and it was damn near impossible to find her in a bad mood more than a few hours. Coincidentally Angel was from Italian descent. Erica looked at the photo for quite sometime when suddenly her datapad chimed.

Sighing, Erica strood over to her bedside table and picked up her datapad. She frowned when she found it was from Joker. At first she wanted to delete the message right away, that is until she saw the subject line: How _I_ failed the squadron.

Curious, Erica opened the message and found that it was a well written apology from Joker. It also contained a video file, she opened it and was amazed by what she saw. It was gun camera footage, probably from Joker's plane and that's when she saw that the fighter that Joker was chasing was the same one that the Red Bastard had flown earlier, in fact it was painted red just like that damnable fighter, so it was him.

Audio wafted through the speakers. _"Fuck, the bastard is right on me! Get him off my six!"_ Gunner shouted in alarm.

" _Hang on Gunner I'am coming!"_ Joker barked as his fighter pitched up, rolled over the top and dove. On the way down, he shredded a Space Banshee. Gunner's Rapier was dancing all over the place, trying to shake the unidentified Covenant Fighter off his tail. Energy bolts sizzled toward the fighter, Gunner threw his ship into an aerolon roll to try and shake him.

" _Help! Help! I am running out of maneuvers here!_ " Gunner barked as he deployed flares in order to spoof a missile.

" _Try and get him to hold still! This fucker is responsible for splashing both Angel and Hentai!_ " Joker said as he swung around onto the Red Bastard's tail.

" _I am trying! He's-"_ The audio cut out as multiple energy bolts impacted and burned through the armor of Gunner's Rapier Interceptor like paper one either hit a weapon bay, fuel tank, or the reactor because the fighter simply exploded, becoming a short lived star - complete with it's very own system of co-orbiting debris.

" _That fucker! Come-on baby! Lock him up! Lock him up!_ " Joker hissed angrily and then he shouted " _Got a lock! Joker, Fox Three!_ " and an Enhanced Space Sparrow II shot away from his fighter and streaked toward the Red Bastard. The Elite pilot pitched up, deployed plasma flares and then went to full power and caused the missile to miss.

" _Missile shot trashed!_ " A pilot said.

" _Shut the fuck up Racetrack, this bastard has killed Angel, Hentai, and now Gunner! I'll be damned if I let him get another!_ " Joker hissed angrily and applied full thrust. He shot after the unknown fighter and displayed skill that Erica didn't even know he had. He stayed on the tail of that Split Lip like a hound dog on a pork chop, every now and again either attempting a shot with a missile or his guns.

After ten tortuous minutes of crazy flying, including at one point blitzing right in front of the _Leviathan_ 's bridge -which resulted in a string of expletives from the NAV officer and to a degree Vice Admiral Stanforth- Joker got tired of being given the runaround. They approached another ship, the _ANZAC_ -which resulted a string of cursing from the NAV officer and Comms officer- the Red Bastard went low while Joker went high, his fighter at full thrust sprinted across the full dorsal surface of the Heavy Destroyer and barely won the race to an intercept point.

The 70mm cannons roared angrily defiance. Tracers streaked out and slammed into the shields which sparkled a bluish-silver in an attempt to hold off the 70mm SAPHE and SAPHE-T rounds, they failed and Joker succeeded in removing the entirety of right wing and a good sized portion of the right and left tails. The alien fighter tumbled for a few short moments before recovering and then with a brief flash of purple light was gone. " _FUUUUUCK! FUUUUUUCK!_ _I had him! I had him and I blew it!_ " Joker said, his voice filled with despair and anger, all directed at himself. It was clear that he blamed himself for failing Gunner and implying that he also felt like he had failed Hentai and Angel as well.

It all clicked, when she had met Joker in the hallway outside the hanger. He hadn't been trying to cheer her up but also himself. She had obviously been way to harsh on him, plus anyone who could actually down the shields on the Red Bastard and land hits on the fucker most certainly deserved her respect. She quickly typed up a reply with a formal pardon and explanation. Although she still wanted him out of his squadron, she did post a recommendation for him to go to OCS and to study astrogation, the maneuver he pulled to allow him to get the drop on the Red Bastard showed that not only was he a brilliant pilot but also at astrogation and timing something which was a requirement to become a helmsman. She sent the reply and a few minutes later her datapad chimed again. She went to it and found a reply from Joker, who simply said "As long as I have earned back your respect, I am happy."

It made Erica crack a slight smile.

 **Same time**

 **Onboard UNSC** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

Captain Jacob Keyes leaned calmly against the brass railing in the CIC of the _Iroquois_. Just thirty minutes ago the system had been declared all secure, all Covenant forces either driven off or destroyed. A victory at last, one that could actually qualify as a win. But like all the battles the hard part had now come, recovering the dead and wounded, the space around Sigma Octanus IV was littered with the shattered remains of numerous single ships and decimated warships. The debris field that had resulted from the battle created hundreds of thousands possibly even millions of contacts. This mess was going to make travel around the planet difficult for the next decade at _least_.

Still, they had nearly recovered all of the bodies from space.

His gaze caught the twisted and nearly unrecognizable remains of the _Cradle_ as it lazily spun past the _Iroquois_ , which resulted in a pained sounding rumble to run through the deck plating. The massive 13 kilometer long station was locked firmly in high orbit of Sigma Octanus Four. The station had been hit by at least ten maybe even as many as twenty plasma torpedoes, the powerful energy weapons had burned through the ten decks of incredibly strong Titanium-C, Vanadium Steel, Composites, and Carbon Nanotubes with incredible ease as if the station had been made of tissue paper instead of modern building materials. Killing the forty volunteers who had remained behind on the station in order to pilot it so it could become a sacrificial shield. Now however, the station was slowly being ripped apart by her own rotation: girders, metal plates, and frames were twisting, warping, and bending as the gravitational strain from the slow rotation ripped them apart.

Vice Admiral Stanforth had gotten his "win" which while it had been desperately needed this victory had come at a tremendous cost.

Captain Keyes scowled as he scrolled through the casualty list on his datapad, the UNSC had lost twenty five warships and the URF had lost fifteen, and many of the ships that survived all had moderate to severe damage which thus meant that they needed several months _at least_ in spacedock in order to get repaired and brought back to full functionality.

In addition to that, an entire Marine division had been utterly destroyed, numerous single ship squadrons ravaged, around four-hundred fifty thousand Navy crew personnel killed with another couple thousand wounded some critically so. Add to that with the exception of twenty survivors, just over three hundred thousand civilians who lived in the city of Côte d'Azur at the fast and brutal hands of the Covenant.

 _We won, but it still feels like a defeat merely because we lost so many people, good ones. Some "win"._ Keyes thought bitterly.

However Côte d'Azur was now just a mere smoking crater but Sigma Octanus IV had been saved along with all the rest of the civilians on the planet. Nearly fourteen million lives. So maybe it indeed had been worth it.

A great number of lives had been measured … as had deaths in this battle. Had the odds been tipped even slightly against them, this could have been a defeat instead of a complete victory. That was something he had actually never taught any of his students at the Academy. That either victory or defeat often depended on a combination of strategic and tactical skill, bravery, daring, on occasion ambition, and luck.

He saw that the last couple of Pelican Dropships were returning from the planet's surface. The craft matched their orbit with the _Leviathan_ and docked with her. Once they were aboard, the massive battle-scarred _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser then entered a slow graceful turn so it wouldn't over-stress it's damaged maneuvering thrusters or drive cones. The ship had taken a beating during the battle, multiple pulse laser strikes had abraded through numerous sections of her armor, several sections had simply twisted Titanium-C from internal explosions thanks to Particle Cannons, and her foredecks and roughly dead center amidships on the starboard side had the distinctive damage of plasma torpedo strikes.

After _Leviathan_ had completed her turn, the multi-megaton cruiser began to accelerate out-system.

"Sensor sweep complete, sir." Lieutenant Dominique reported, she sounded tired but still absolutely jovial. "I think we managed to pick up the last of lifeboats during that pass, sir."

"Alright, but let's make sure, Lieutenant." Keyes replied slightly groggy. "One more pass through the system please, Ensign Lovell. Plot a course and take us around one last time."

"Aye, aye sir." Lovell replied before tapping in a few commands. A moment later the thrusters fired and brought the _Iroquois_ around to make one last pass through the system. As the ship exited it's turn, an exhausted feeling rattle resounded through decking. To Keyes at least it felt like his ship was exhausted metaphorically speaking of-course. However his bridge crew was exhausted both physically _and_ emotionally. They had all pulled extended shifts after the battle had ended in order to search for survivors and recover the dead. Thus they were all drained. Captain Keyes was going to rotate the shifts after this last pass.

Still as he looked at his bridge crew, he noticed that after the battle something had changed for the ever better. Lieutenant Hikowa for example, her movements were no longer lethargic instead they crisp, determined, and carried an air of energeticness to them, as if each one was going to determine the fate of the next action they fought in. Lieutenant Hall who at first had sounded skeptical that the Covenant had fled was now replaced with genuine exuberance and confidence. Dominique seemed happy and at ease for his hands were lightly tapping out a report for FLEETCOM on Reach. Even Ensign Lovell who despite the fact he was clearly exhausted had a clear spring in his step and moved lively.

Captain Keyes realized that Vice Admiral Stanforth had been correct. Maybe this win was needed more than Keyes had realized. The morale on his ship had certainly gone up. They had truly beaten the Covenant saving a world. With the exception of only three small engagements in which the UNSC had decisively defeated the Covenant. Plus not since Admiral Cole's Last Stand had their been a battle of this scale where humanity had won. A complete victory and thus a world saved. This victory would show to everyone that the Covenant were indeed beatable, they weren't the invincible monsters that everyone thought they were and that there was still hope.

But was there _really_ any hope left? They had won because they had twice the ships that the Covenant had brought to the action. Plus Keyes had a feeling that the Covenant hadn't come to Sigma Octanus IV to conquer the planet, instead they'd come looking for something. They hadn't come to win a battle … despite the appearance of a _DAS_ class Supercarrier.

Still right after the battle, officers from the Office of Naval Intelligence had come aboard the _Iroquois_ … which had resulted in a rumble through the decking that had sounded extremely guarded. They had congratulated Captain Keyes on a job well done and then had copied followed by purging all of the data that they had intercepted from the Covenant planetside. Naturally the goddamnable spooks hadn't even given an explanation, typical.

Keyes fiddled with his pipe as he replayed the battle again in his mind. No, the reason that the Covenant had lost was because they hadn't come to Sigma Octanus IV to glass the planet -granted it was likely on their to do list now- it was whatever the hell they had intercepted that was key.

"Sir, we're receiving orders from FLEETCOM." Lieutenant Dominique said.

"Alright, pipe it through to my station, Lieutenant." Keyes said as he walked over and sat down in his command chair. The computer read both his fingerprints and retina in order to confirm his identity and then opened the file.

 **UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 19852K-98**

 **Encryption code:** RED

 **Public Key:** File /Lightning-Matrix-Four/

 **From:** Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth, Commanding Officer, UNSC _Leviathan_ / UNSC Section III Commander/ (UNSC Service Number: 00834-19223-HS)

 **To:** Captain Jacob Keyes, Commanding Officer UNSC _Iroquois_ / (UNSC Service Number: 01928-19912-JK)

 **Subject:** ORDERS FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION

 **Classification:** Secret (BGX Directive)

/Start File/

Keyes,

Drop whatever you're doing and head back to the barn. We're both being wanted for immediate debriefing by ONI at Reach Headquarters ASAP.

Looks like the spooks at Naval Intelligence are up to their normal cloak-and-dagger tricks again.

Cigars and brandy afterwards.

Regards,

Stanforth

/End File/

"Very well." Keyes muttered, they were going back to Reach slightly earlier than expected. But if ONI wanted you for debriefing ASAP, then you really didn't have a choice then didn't you?

"Lieutenant Dominique: send Vice Admiral Stanforth my compliments. Ensign Lovell as per the Cole Protocol generate a randomized exit vector and make ready to leave the system. Take us out-system for an hour in slipspace and then we'll reorient and then proceed to the Reach military installation." Keyes said.

"Aye aye sir. Randomized vector laid in and ready execute. Our tracks are covered sir." Lovell replied as he energetically typed in commands for the jump to slipspace.

"Lieutenant Hall: start organizing shore leave. We're heading back to Reach for some repairs and well earned R&R." He said and while those technically weren't his orders. He knew that his crew deserved it, they had likely single-handedly twice decided the outcome of a battle.

"Amen to that, finally a chance to see Reach again." Ensign Lovell said.

With a brief firing of her thrusters, the _Iroquois_ turned away from Sigma Octanus Four on a random vector and began to accelerate out-system. Captain Keyes took one last look at the glittering planet they had managed to save. Yet while the battle was over he had a bad feeling. _The battle is over, but why do I feel like I am heading straight into another fight?_

The powerful destroyer plowed through a haze of titanium dust which was merely condensed UNSC battleplate that had been vaporized. It caught the sunlight from the stars and glittered red and orange, making it appear as if the ship was sailing through a sea of blood. When time allowed, a HAZMAT team would arrive and clean up the system, removing unexploded ordnance, slipspace drives, and defueling reactors among other things. But until then, the amount of junk from microscopic pieces of debris up to massive six hundred meter long sections of the _Cradle_ dotted space.

One particular piece of debris floated near the accelerating _Iroquois_. This particular piece was near indistinguishable from the huge amount of condensed Titanium that the destroyer was plowing through. However if anyone had been looking, they would've seen that this debris was heading in the opposite direction of the rest, moving with a purpose.

Once the piece got close enough it extended tiny electromagnets and attached itself firmly to the ship's number three engine shield. Blending in near perfectly with the Vanadium Steel.

The object, a Covenant probe opened a photographic eye and gazed at the stars, collecting data so it could reference it's current position. The probe would continue to do this for several days, during that time it would slowly build-up a charge. Once it reached critical energy, a tiny sliver of thallium nitride memory crystal would be ejected at near the speed of light while a minute slipspace field was generated around the sliver. If the trajectory was perfect, the memory crystal would intercept a Covenant receiver located at precise coordinates within the alternate space.

… thus the tiny automated probe would reveal to the Covenant every place that the _Iroquois_ had been.

 **Thirty minutes later**

 **Onboard UNSC** _Iroquois_ **DD-906**

Captain Jacob Keyes was heading to his quarters. The bridge crew had been rotated shortly after the Heavy Destroyer had entered slipspace. Now though, Keyes wanted to catch a quick nap before he would have to enter Cryostasis for the trip back to Reach. He had decided that he was beginning to get too old to get frozen and shot through lightspeed.

He heard footsteps behind him, probably one of the enlisted men on the _Iroquois_ wanting to congratulate him. He turned around and he was quite surprised at what he saw. It was not an enlisted sailor but an officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander as Keyes could see from the insignia and patches on the standard long sleeved gray shirt and pants with the standard jet black boots though on her utility belt was a set gloves and a VAC emergency helmet which fit her well-built frame quite well. Keyes couldn't help but be drawn in by her looks, she has a slight but noticeable tan, bright blue eyes and shiny black hair that was tied into a ponytail. Keyes also noted that she was quite small about 5 ft and 3 inches which was strange as looking at her features, she look no more than in her late teens which made her rank as Lieutenant Commander even more peculiar. However the most damning thing about this officer for Keyes was that he had never seen or even heard of this officer aboard his ship and Keyes made it a point to know his officers.

"That was a damn good licking you gave the Covenant, sir" The officer said, "I am so glad you are commanding me-I mean the _Iroquois_ "

"Yes…" Keyes said as he was quite suspicious of this mystery officer. _If she is a spy, she is a damn bad one_ , "Excuse me but what is your name, officer?"

"My name, Captain?" The officer asked, " My name is Iroquois."

"What's your full name, Iroquois?" Keyes asked.

"It's Iroquois, Captain." Iroquois replied.

"Excuse me?" Keyes wasn't sure he heard the officer properly, "What was your name again?"

"Iroquois, sir." Iroquois replied.

"Full name, Lieutenant Commander." Keyes requested.

"Sir, my full name is Lieutenant Commander Iroquois." Iroquois replied with surprising patience Keyes noted.

" _Attention to all crew, the ship will now be reorienting now, we are heading for Reach._ " The speakers announced.

"Right on time too." Iroquois said.

"What?" Keyes asked as he heard Iroquois said something.

"Nothing sir, it was just some rambling." Iroquois said. Keyes looked at her but said nothing. His brow did raise when Iroquois's expression changed and her right hand moved to her right ear, "There is a message for you sir from the Admiral Stanforth's flagship, _Leviathan_ , it reads: _If you've encountered a young woman claiming to be spirit of the ship, don't panic. Because I am dealing with the same thing as well. Not entirely sure what's going on, but we'll figure it out when we get back to Reach._ _We'll all probably need a drink or two after we get this figured out._ "

"What in the hell does...?" Keyes uttered when a sailor came up to the two officers with a message in hand.

"Captain, this just came in from the _Leviathan_." The sailor said as he handed Keyes the message. Keyes was puzzled but took the message anyways which then the sailor left either to head back to his post or deliver more messages. He read it aloud.

"If you've encountered a young woman claiming to be spirit of the ship, don't panic… What the hell?" Keyes uttered in disbelief.

"Captain?" The sailor asked.

"Iroquois, you are the _Iroquois_ aren't you?" Keyes asked as he pieced the clues together.

"Yes sir, I am the destroyer and the destroyer is me." Iroquois said before she snapped to attention and giving Keyes the navy salute, "It is a pleasure to be in service of you sir."

"This is strange… ah fuck it, Iroquois, It is an honour to be in command of a ship of your caliber." Keyes returned the salute before dismissing Iroquois's salute, "Now is this your usual form?"

"This my only form sir, the only change is when I go into Combat mode sir." Iroquois said, "Because that is when my guns come out to play."

"Combat mode? What is that?" Keyes asked.

"Well captain, ship girls like myself have two modes, General Mode and Combat Mode. General Mode is the mode where ship girls are at 50 percent of their physical stats ie, speed and strength which is by the way is still way stronger than a normal person and maybe a Spartan, not sure to be honest, better ask the bigger girls, they know better and more. Also we are not using most of our systems like radar or fire control but we tend to have our comms on to ease communications between us and our ship-self " Iroquois explained her current mode.

"So this is your stand down mode?" Keyes asked.

"In a sense yes, it is." Iroquois nodded, "Now for our combat mode, is where we are all full stats. We also activate our Ship Weight which we can activate during General Mode but it is more demanding. Though some of us will call it Ship Mass so make it sound less like we are gaining weight but what it basically means we go from our current body weight to the weight of our namesake. Moving on, in Combat Mode, our armaments will materialize which usually be a metal contraption that is attached to our lower abdomen and depending on our class, our armament layout will differ. Like for me, my MAC guns flank me on either side of me. My six _Shiva_ Missile launchers are on my left gun platform while my Archer missile pods are on my right gun platform. Also my twelve point defense lasers are on both platforms, six on each side as are my secondary guns. Also in combat mode, we will be using all our systems which will be independent from our namesake so to avoid confusion and overlapping." Iroquois explained.

"My question, in General Mode, are your systems independent from your namesake?" Keyes asked.

"Yes they are but we tend to use our namesake's systems instead because using them in General Mode is heavy on energy consumption." Iroquois answered. "Also here are some similarities between our two forms, one, we consume a lot of food and two, we are able to operate in space without a need for respiratory support

"Okay, one last thing I need to ask." Keyes said.

"What is it sir?" Iroquois asked.

"What should we call you so not to confuse you with your namesake?" Keyes asked.

"Oh if that is the case, you could just call me Irie." Iroquois suggested.

 **9th Age of Reclamation**

 **Onboard the** _CSO_ **class warship** _Long Night of Solace_

 **Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee commanding**

Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee was anxious, he was the CO of the powerful warship _Long Night of Solace_ as well as a small fleet of warships, including two _CCS_ class Battlecruisers and six _SDV_ class Heavy Corvettes. His fleet was currently in void space and was en route to a system that his luminary had identified as being home to a major Forerunner artifact one that was likely the final piece of the puzzle in finding the capital of the Gods.

However while he was a devout followerof Covenant religion, but he wasn't sure why the Covenant was at war with the humans. Sure they Hierarchs claimed that they were heretics and while 'Barutamee believed that, he also wasn't sure why an offer had been made to the humans first to join the Covenant. Still, he had seen battles where human warships would sometimes ram or attempt to ram friendly ships just to protect civilian ships fleeing a planet.

"Exiting void space in twelve seconds." An Elite Major manning the helm said.

"Make sure we are locked down tight. I want emissions at a minimum and passive stealth measures engaged." Rho ordered. The _Long Night of Solace_ was about to exit slipspace and into a previously uncharted system. Rho had to admit, he was more than a little excited.

"Entering real space, five … four … three … two … one." The Elite at the helm said. With an imperceptible jolt, the _Long Night of Solace_ entered real space.

"Multiple sensor readings! Confirmation on numerous _human_ ships, sensors are picking up multiple orbital stations and defense platforms." A sensor officer said.

Rho was stunned, he had found a major human world! One that would just laugh at _Long Night of Solace_ , no warship even with the shields up with the exception of _Unyielding Hierophant_ and _High Charity_ could withstand a hit from those Orbital Guns. This gave him two options, one was run straight to _High Charity_ and report his find which given that he had been illegally collecting Holy Relics so that when he found the homeworld of the Gods he could had a valid excuse for it or he could use the second option.

"Launch a messenger probe, with a report of our findings and location. Have it sent directly to _High Charity_. After it's launched engage active stealth measures and take us to a position above the planet that's not patrolled by human forces often. We shall search for Holy Relics and begin ground operations at once." Rho ordered and the crew sprang to their tasks.

Within the course of ten minutes, the _Long Night of Solace_ launched the probe with it heading to _High Charity_ so they could plan an offensive and then the massive twenty-eight point nine kilometer long warship wavered slightly and then disappeared like a ghost. By chance the Megacarrier had emerged from slipspace when the Remote Sensing Outpost were cycling their probes and she had emerged in such a position that radar, lidar, nor visual means had detected her. In other words, the UNSC on Reach didn't know that they had unwelcomed company.

 **AN: There we go! This chapter marks the end of the Sigma Octanus IV arc and now we are heading into the events of Halo: Reach proper with some mixing of events from Halo: The Fall of Reach as seen with this arc here.** **Anything to add on General?**

 **General: Not really but at least Joker was able to get his name clean and yes we also now include Kancolle and before you lot start complaining, this was Thor's idea.**

 **Thor: Really for the laughs and so we can see how the ships feel about engaging Covenant ones. Besides compared to the plans we have for this story, it's not the wackiest either.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Alright folks; we've gotten past the training and the Sigma Octanus Four Arc and now it's time to get into the story proper. I know ten chapters before actually start the story of how Reach falls but trust me and General, it's to help prevent continuity snarls and to lay the groundwork as well. Also note from this point on you'll see two timestamps at the start of each section or scene one dictates the Reach time as seen in Halo: Reach, now Reach has a twenty-seven hour clock hence the reason why Visegrád relay had all signals flatline at 2600 hours and the other timestamp will be Military Calendar using the 24/7/365 calendar instead of the 27/7/390 calendar of Reach. Anything in particular you want to add General?**

 **General: Not really but make sure to keep strapped on, it is gonna get bumpy.**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Reach**

The planet Reach spun serenely through the blackness of space. It was once a pristine world, with mighty oceans, powerful rivers, lush forests, icy tundras, and fridge arctic regions. Now, they were all gone. In it's place was literally hell on Earth. The entire surface of the planet had a glossy sheen to it, several areas glowed an angry red, the atmosphere was choked thick with ash and debris.

A debris field was in orbit of the planet, numerous ships of varying designs spun lazily through space, their hulls either shattered by mass driver projectiles, smashed by missiles, blackened by plasma impacts, blown apart by antimatter ordinance and particle cannons, or bisected by energy projectors.

In one particular region of the planet on a continent that had once been known as Eposz, to say that it was truly hell was an understatement, the air wavered with incredible heat and the ground gave off so much heat that it was literally fatal to anyone who wasn't wearing an EVA suit rated for excursions on _Venus_. Covenant glassing weaponry had decimated the planet, nearby the once proud and majestic Diamond Mountain lay split right down the middle to roughly it's halfway point in height by a Covenant plasma torpedo.

Nearby lay the twisted remains of a UNSC Frigate, it's dead hulk having partially buried itself into the ground with the distinct damage of having it's keel broken, it's near entire front just gone having either shattered on impact or having been surgically removed by a Covenant energy projector.

But that wasn't the most interesting part, no. It was the Mjolnir Mark V Recon Helmet with a UA/HUL attachment that was lying on the ground. It was so heavily blackened that it was impossible to tell what color it had been and the visor a reflective gold was scorched, pitted, and most alarmingly had an enormous crack right in the center, which rendered it totally useless.

Now, this under normal circumstances would have raised questions as to why the hell a Spartan helmet was in such bad condition. However, considering that it was Reach after it's fall, the story that led to this helmet being here was a long and sad one.

 **Section III: WINTER CONTINGENCY**

 **0000 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **0700 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Firebase Tango**

Commander Carter-A259 sighed as he looked over the file of the new Spartan that was going to be joining NOBLE Team today: SPARTAN-B312. It hadn't been easy, but Carter had managed to get access to his entire file, he smiled slightly at the skill set that B312 was bringing to the table: Infiltration, Heavy Weapons, Sniper, CQC, you named it this Spartan was good at. But one thing that caught his eye was one particular rating: Hyper lethal. To the best of Carter's knowledge their wasn't many Spartans with that rating.

"I take it our new number six is going to be arriving today?" Jorge asked as he walked up.

"Yes, he is. He's SPARTAN-B312 and he's been used sort of as ONI's personal assassin and black operator. But it appears after that attempted uprising on Malmore by independent Innie cells it's been decided he's going to be with us. Here's the thing, he's rated Hyper lethal." Carter said.

"You're joking! He's rated Hyper lethal? God _damn_ , a hyper lethal Spartan on NOBLE, Christmas must have come early or something. Because the only other hyper lethal Spartan that I know of is the Master Chief. Anything else of note?" Jorge asked sounding utterly amazed.

"Yes, it says that he'll sometimes go solo and come out on top, so he's a lone wolf. It likely comes with his previous job description. It also says he's survived several encounters with the Covenant. Also, he doesn't specialize in any one particular skillset. Instead he's more of a master of none." Carter said.

"That's interesting, still when is he going to be arriving?" Jorge asked.

"Around 0730 Hours today Reach Time." Carter said calmly.

"Good to know." Jorge said.

 **Twenty-five minutes later**

The M831 Troop Transport Warthog bounded along a gravel road. SPARTAN-B312 glanced at the driver of the Hog. He was a young eager faced boy, that was happening more and more these days. The war with the Covenant had pretty thoroughly drained humanity's reserves of manpower. While the victory at Sigma Octanus Four had given morale one hell of a much needed shot in the arm.

"We're almost there sir." The trooper driving said, having to shout in order to be heard over the roar of the engine. _Right, better put on my helmet._ The Spartan thought as he picked up his helmet from where it was in the middle console. He gazed into it's reflective gold visor, the reflective surface showing his face right back to him. He had painted the helmet itself a with dark brick red primary color and a secondary color of dark blue-grey, this also applied to the rest of his armor as well. He rubbed and armored finger right below the visor before flipping the helmet around and putting it on. With a slight but noticeable _hiss_ it sealed in place.

Automatically his motion tracker, bio monitor, shield gauge, compass, hand-held weapon and integrated into armor 25mm Crossbow Micro-RPG launcher status all booted up on his HUD display. The thunder of rotors got his attention, he glanced up and saw that their was two UH-144 Falcons, their IFFs were squawking VMX-22.

The Troop Hog bounded over a hill, caught air for several seconds, hit the ground bounced once and then landed with a heavy _thud_ and then kept on going. Six once again mentally reviewed the Spartans of NOBLE Team, Commander Carter was the CO and was an excellent shot with his DMR although if the situation called for it he would use a Battle Rifle, Catherine was a fellow Beta Company Spartan-III and he had actually gotten to know her during training but she was the team's electronic specialist most of the time she used an M6G Magnum but on occasion would use an MA6-K Carbine, then there was Jun he was the team sniper and thus was armed with an SRS-99 and a M6G Magnum, then there was Emile to say that the Alpha Company Spartan was slightly axe-crazy was possibly an understatement but he was also the team's CQC specialist he carried a shotgun typically either a M90 Mk I or MKII -the only difference between the MkI and MkII is the fact that the MkII has a smaller magazine but it's a double-barreled shotgun- and generally an M7 Submachine gun as his secondary, and finally the Heavy Weapons Specialist for NOBLE Team was a Spartan-II named Jorge and he wielded a M247H HMG that fired 12.7x99mm HEAPI and HEAPI-T rounds. He was going to be filling the number six position, which made his call sign Noble Six.

Still, he was used to mainly working alone and not as a team. But it had been drilled into him during his training. Still, there was most certainly going to take a little time, not much, maybe a day or so in order to get used to working with a team of Spartans. But, on the flipside of the things, it would be nice to see Catherine again, mainly because after Operation: TORPEDO there was only a handful of survivors from Beta Company.

The Warthog drove into a small Firebase, stopping at the armed checkpoint to have everything checked and then the Hog drove on in. Just as the powerful Infantry carrier began to skid to a stop, the two UH-144 Falcons landed. "Alright, here we are. Firebase Tango." The young trooper said.

"Thanks for the lift, it beats the hell out of walking." Six said jokingly as he climbed out of the Warthog. It was true, Firebase Tango while it wasn't in the middle of nowhere on Reach it was close, with the closest settlement being some ninety kilometers away over rough terrain. While crossing that sort of distance while clad in Mjolnir armor would be easy it would take easily a couple of hours.

"No problem, Chief. It was an honor to drive a Spartan out here." The Trooper said before giving it a little gas and pulling away. With that done, Six turned and began to walk toward the command center. As he calmly moved forward he heard a voice that the software in his armor identified as Colonel Urban Holland " _Contact with Visegrád relay was lost last night. All signals flatlined at twenty-six hundred hours._ " He said calmly, which perked Six's curiosity something was up.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Jun, who was sitting outside the passenger cabin of one of the Falcon's; calmly slotting rounds for a sniper rifle into a magazine.

Jun's first impression of the FNG -which while according to Carter, Spartan-B312 was by no means inexperienced considering he was a Beta Company Spartan-III but old habits tended to die hard- was that he was most certainly a lethal soldier. His Mjolnir armor like the rest of the members of NOBLE Team was customized. He had the Recon Helmet with UA/HUL attachment and Recon variant shoulder pauldrons, he had the UA/ODST chest piece, FJ/Para knee guards, mounted on his forearm was a Tacpad, and on the thigh closest to him he had a Tactical Hard Case. The primary color of his armor was dark brick and the secondary was dark blue-grey. But Jun could tell that B312, their new number six was most certainly a hardened veteran.

Still he had a feeling they were going to be deployed soon. Something was most certainly up. He just had a really bad feeling about what was going on near Visegrád relay.

As Six began to walk past the Falcon as he headed to the Command Center, he heard Colonel Holland continue. " _I responded with Trooper fireteams, we lost all signals with them at 0350 Hours Reach Time and they have thus been declared MIA."_ he said.

Six frowned as he heard that. Granted, if Visegrád relay went down. Communications between Reach and the rest of the colonies would become difficult. As the said relay was one of the three most important relays on the planet. As he began to climb the stairs into the Command Center in order to report in, he heard someone, which the voice identification software in his helmet identified as Commander Carter reply. "And now you're sending Noble Team in. Seems like a bit of overkill, sir." he said, sounding rightly confused.

As he stood in the doorway, he saw what he could assume was Emile judging by the Kukri he was sharpening and the shotgun that was magnetically attached to his back. Just as he was about to step into the Command Center, someone put an arm in front of his chest to stop him. It was Catherine. " _The Office of Naval Intelligence believes that the deployment of a Spartan team to handle something like this is a gross misallocation of valuable resources. I disagree, Visegrád relay is vital in keeping Reach connected with the rest of the colonies; the longer it's down means the longer we have no idea what could be happening outside of the Epsilon Eridani System."_ Holland replied.

"Commander." Catherine said, turning to look at a Spartan who was clad in blue and steel colored Mjolnir armor, he didn't have his helmet on. Sitting in a specially modified chair nearby clad in his armor but lacking the helmet as well was someone who could only be Jorge given his size. The two Spartans turned to face him. "So that's our new number six." Jorge said in a jovial and warm tone, which Six had to admit the welcome was warmer than he had expected.

Six walked into the room. "Kat, I take it you read his file?" Emile asked curiously.

Kat nodded an affirmative. "Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink and I've never seen so much of it on a file before." she said. Carter, seemingly satisfied that the new arrival wasn't causing any problems or that his team wasn't giving him any problems turned back to the holo-screen. "Is anyone claiming responsibility sir?" he asked.

Even though it was a holographic projection video call as you could say. The tone of Holland's voice made it seem that he was shaking his head. " _I am afraid not. ONI thinks it maybe one of those rogue Innie cells we have to deal with from time to time. Five months ago, one of those cells pulled a similar stunt on Harmony; they knocked out a relay to take our eyes and ears out and then stole a freighter from dry-dock. That simply_ can't _happen here, Reach is too damn important. Still, something about this doesn't feel right so be on the lookout for anything suspicious. I want that relay back online Noble One._ " Holland replied.

"Yes sir. Consider it done." Carter said.

" _Then I'll see you on the other side. Holland out._ " Colonel Holland said before cutting the connection. Jorge and Emile stood with Jorge and Carter grabbing their helmets, then the leader of Noble Team turned to face Spartan-B312. "Lieutenant." he greeted in a neutral tone. "Commander, sir. Spartan-B312 reporting for duty." He said.

Emile and Jorge in the meantime began to move out, with Jorge donning his helmet. The two Spartans marched out of the command center while Kat waited by the door for the two other Spartans. "I am Carter, Noble Team's leader. That's Kat Noble Two with Emile and Jorge being four and five. Jun's outside by one of the Falcons that have just landed, he's Noble Three. You're riding with me Noble Six." Carter said as he began to walk out of the Command Center, with Six trailing. They trotted down the stairs and began to head toward the Falcons, with Jorge, Emile, and Kat heading to the closer one while Carter and Six went straight to the other one. Jun, upon seeing his team exit the building put on his helmet and mounted up.

"I am going to be honest, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes that the rest of the team would rather leave unfilled. Me? I am happy to have Noble Team back at full strength." Carter said as he donned his helmet as the two Spartans reached the Falcon whose engines were starting to spool up.

"I completely understand sir." Six replied as he mounted up into the Falcon's passenger compartment.

"Just one more thing, I've read your file. Including the parts that the ONI censors didn't want me too. I am impressed and glad to have your skill set but _we're a team_. That "Lone Wolf" stuff stays behind unless I give you explicit orders to go on ahead. Clear?" Carter said as he gave the signal for the Falcons to take off and the engine pitch increased as the pilots of the VTOLs demanded more power from their engines and then the craft began to lumber into the air.

"Got it sir." Six said.

"One more thing, Six." Jun said suddenly.

"What?" Six asked.

"Welcome to Reach." The Alpha Company Spartan replied as the two Falcons began to head toward a mountain range in the distance.

"Thanks."

 **0115 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **0815 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Military Reservation 01478-A**

 **Following Corpsman Yoshika Miyafuji**

Yoshika was at her station which was in the infirmary in the base as she was now the assistant chief medical officer for her regiment. There wasn't really much to do as there was it was a quiet day. The biggest incident so far was a private coming in with a sprained ankle from the obstacle course. Therefore Yoshika had a lot of time to herself and now she began to think about Reach and how it has become a home to her and she guessed it was the same for the rest of her friends. She knows that Amirah has an apartment in the nearby city of New Alexandria which Amirah was more than happy to share with her. This was better than the rest of her squad as they all had to share a much smaller apartment in a less pleasant part of New Alexandria but they were okay with it.

"Hey Miyafuji, you can go now, Corporal Glinda will be in a few minutes." said Doctor Peterson, the base' chief medical officer.

"Okay, thank you doctor." Yoshika bowed before she left the medical office. She then decided to head to the mess hall. Once there, she saw her squad all sitting at a table chatting about something she couldn't hear.

"Hey Yoshika, over here!" Shirley called out to Yoshika.

"Oh hey, Shirley" Yoshika answered and went to the table with the rest of her squad.

"So where you came from? Francesca asked.

"Oh from my post in the medical office." Yoshika answered.

"Must be boring since everything is so calm." Perrine said.

"Not really, I had time to think to myself and I have been wondering about how Reach has become our home." Yoshika said.

"That is true, Reach has become a home for us now." Mio nodded.

"Well that is no surprise seeing how we have been living here for a good one and half years." Minna said.

"And Amirah has been here for much longer and she has no complaints on Reach." Eila said, "Say, Yoshika how was staying Amirah's apartment was like? Was it barely decorated?"

"Actually it was not, in fact it had a comfy and inviting feel to it." Yoshika said. _Not to mention there were quite a number of stuffed animals in her apartment. Looks like that aspect of Amirah hasn't changed._

"That's interesting, didn't think Amirah would know how to decorate a home." Perrine said.

"Well, you know Amirah is quite secretive about herself." Lynnette reminded.

"That's true," Minna said, "Remember how it took an attack by Fascist troops before Amirah told us she was part of the SAS?"

"I remember, but that said, Reach is a nice place to live." Mio replied.

"Yeah it is peaceful." Perrine said, "Say where do you think we will be sent to next?"

"Not sure really?" Minna said, "The Captain hasn't said anything recently so we might still be waiting though I heard we had a victory in the Sigma Octanus Sector."

"It has been a while since I heard a victory for us." Mio said.

"But Rock why are you so eager?" Shirley asked, "Want to go to Valhalla so badly?"

"Shut up, Shirley." Perrine said, "I was just curious to see what new environment we will end up fighting in next."

"Why don't you ask Eila here, she might have some insight." Shirley joked.

"Well… I can't say for sure but all I know it will be close." Eila said.

"How close?" Sanya asked.

"Reach perhaps?" Eila shrugged before she and others began laughing at how absurd the idea was, even Yoshika joined in the laughter. Mainly because it was just so ridiculous, Reach had in geostationary orbit some forty five Mark V "Super" MAC guns each capable of hurling a 3000-ton Tungsten Carbide slug to such a ludicrous velocity that it was a proven fact that these guns could annihilate a Covenant Heavy Cruiser even with it's shields up and the slug would just keep on trucking afterward. In addition to that fact there was _always_ a fleet of at least _fifty_ UNSC and URF warships in-system and combined with the fact that they also had an incredible amount of Army, Marine, Navy, and Air Force assets planetside they could easily squash any invasion that the damned Covenant attempted. Reach was really one of the few places that Yoshika would consider safe from the xenophobic alien alliance with one of the others being Earth, with it's _three hundred_ ODPs and it's hefty defense fleet.

"Alright, here's a fair question, what's you favorite part about Reach?" Francesca asked curiously.

"Probably the twenty-seven hour days. The sun is up longer by about an hour and a half or so." Mio said.

"But on the flipside of the coin that twenty-seven hour day certainly takes some getting used too. I mean it's dark out for an hour and a half or so. Still twenty-seven hour day."

 **Elsewhere on base**

 **Sametime**

Elsewhere on base, Captain Amirah was on the range. Trying out a new type of weapon that the weapon designers at Mirash Armories on Mars had recently come out with. The weapon in question was basically a Gauss SMG, it worked on the same principle as an MA6 Assault Rifle and was of similar shape to the MA6 but it was much more compact, measuring at only 20 inches in length with a 10.5 inch long barrel, the caliber was different as well, it fired 5.7mm Tungsten projectiles at a velocity of 3,500 feet per second with a rate of fire of twelve rounds per second or 720 rounds per minute.

The weapon itself was designated the M20 SMG; however the weapon had a few issues, for one the M20 depleted it's Hydrogen Powercell really damn fast, capable of cycling through three full magazines before it needed to be replaced; thankfully UNSC weapon designers saw this and had made the powercell replaceable. Still it added another aspect that UNSC troops would have to carry into battle. But then again, considering how lightweight the magazines themselves were and the fact that the Hydrogen cell had been designed to automatically eject when expended, Amirah didn't see it being a problem. Also, if anything it was easier to control than the M7 Submachine Gun that was staple of the ODSTs and it packed a far bigger punch.

Still, she couldn't shake this feeling. Something just felt wrong, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't put her finger on it but it felt that there was a hell of a storm coming but she didn't know from which direction. Still, as she had to admit, carrying this thing around compared to the MA6 that was becoming the standard issue for UNSC Special Forces and sometime in October of this year, standard issue for all UNSC Ground Forces; this thing fit the needs of the ODST nicely. Still the sooner these weapons entered service the happier she would be.

But despite that, she just couldn't shake this bad feeling. A feeling that something bad was going to happen and soon.

 **0145 Hours July 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **0845 Hours July 24, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Reach**

 **Viery Territory near the Visegrád Relay**

Noble Six gazed out of the passenger compartment watching the ground pass beneath the UH-144 Falcon he was riding in. Still why had those Troopers gone dark? If they were lucky the main radio that the troopers had probably just died. Still what had caused the relay to go down, Six wasn't exactly sure if he liked the fact that Innes were on Reach, then again considering how remote the relay was, it was also possible that some important part just decided to crap out. Six shook his head, that theory just wasn't possible because it didn't match up with the Troopers going MIA.

This left two options and Six was praying that it was the former rather than the later. The first was that it was just a bunch of Innes who were up to no good. But the other option, well Six didn't like it at all mainly because of the amount of trouble it reeked of: The Covenant was on Reach. If the Covenant was on Reach well it was certainly bad news bears. Still, the Covenant in order to take Reach would have quite the force to fight against in order to pacify Reach. Still, if that's the case then how the hell did the Covenant get on Reach in the first place?

Carter clicked his com on. " _Alright Noble Team, here's what we got to deal with today._ " he said and Six flashed his status light in acknowledgement. " _We're looking at a downed relay fifty klicks north of Visegrád. We're going to move in, introduce ourselves to whoever knocked it out and then Kat is going to get that relay back online._ " Carter said as he looked out at the other Falcon call sign Charlie Two.

" _Just get me under the hood, sir._ " Kat said in an all-business tone.

" _Sir, I am wondering why the hell rebels would want to separate Reach from the rest of the colonies. It doesn't make any sense at all, sir._ " Jorge said over the comm.

"Commander I have to agree with Noble Five, it does seem a little strange. But then again considering who maybe responsible I wouldn't be surprised." Six added, shaking his head ever so slightly.

" _Well Jorge, Six. If we get the chance you can ask them why they knocked out the comm relay._ " Carter said and the two spartans flashed their acknowledgement lights in response.

" _Sir, all of our signals with Command just got cut off._ " Kat said suddenly and Six began to wonder what else could possibly go wrong. Something was starting to smell a little fishy and Six wasn't sure what it was.

" _Back up channels?_ " Carter asked.

Kat glanced back down at her datapad and began to search. " _Scanning, nothing sir. I can't say what is jamming us._ " Kat said some slight confusion at what could be jamming them evident in her tone of voice. This caused Carter to sigh slightly. "Alright, you heard her. Dead zone confirmed, HQ will not be keeping us company on this trip." He announced over the com.

" _I am lonely already._ " Jun said somewhat sarcastically.

That's when the com crackled and one of the pilots spoke up. " _Sir, we're nearing the outpost. Wait a minute, we're picking up a distress beacon, what do we sir?_ " The pilot of Charlie One asked.

" _Could it be the missing troopers, sir?_ " Jun asked in curiosity.

" _It's a possibility._ " Kat replied.

" _Put us down on that bluff. Near the distress beacon, let's go and check it out. Shootdown attempts are likely people so watch your sectors._ " Carter said over the com. Six flashed his acknowledgement light in response and took his MA6 off of his back and took the safety off the weapon and pulled back the charging handle, loading the weapon.

The two Falcons swung around, flying over a set of Kiva's, the most common of buildings out here. Renowned for their durability and the fact they were easy to maintain. Something that was critical when you were living on the harsh frontier of Reach. The two tilt-rotors approached the bluff and descended, quickly flaring out for a landing. With an almost imperceptible thud the skids of the UH-144s touched down. " _Noble Three, Noble Five. I want you on overwatch support. Provide covering fire if needed._ " Carter ordered and Jun and Jorge's status lights winked.

" _Move down the slope. Spread out and head towards the beacon._ " Carter ordered after he dismounted. Six followed, with a mere glance to his right he saw that both Kat and Emile had dismounted as well. Then the two Falcons increased power to their engines and slowly clawed back into the air. In the meantime the four Spartans of Noble Team that were on the ground slowly advanced toward the Distress Beacon which when it had detected friendly forces had automatically projected a NAV point onto their HUDs.

The Spartans leaped off a four meter high ridge hit the ground and continued advancing. As they approached the beacon, they saw that it was near what had been an M12 Warthog. The proud vehicle had been utterly destroyed, flames were licking out of the vehicle's middle, the ballistic polycarbonate windshield had partially melted from the heat, both rear tires and one of the front tires were missing, a large part of the left front appeared to have been boiled away, the surviving Titanium-C and carbon nanotubes that made up the 'Hog's armor was severely damaged and showed clear signs of having suffered heat shock, the tri-barreled M41 LAAG mount on the back was in horrible shape, something had in several places slagged through the Titanium-C splinter plate and judging by the damage to the back bed and the M41 itself the ammunition belt had likely cooked off, the remains of the gun was drooping downward almost forlornly. It wasn't a good sign.

"Oh damn." Emile breathed in shock.

"This ain't a good sign, Commander." Six said, agreeing with Noble Four.

"I know, Emile search for the beacon. Kat, scan for explosive residue. We need to figure out what did this." Carter ordered sharply.

Emile and Kat flashed their status lights in response and went about their tasks. Noble Four found the distress beacon rather easily, the thing was underneath a severely burned pallet. "Found the beacon, it's in pretty bad shape." Emile said as he began to look at the thing.

The beacon was obviously damaged, it's reddish-pink casing had some serious scorch marks on it. "Okay, Four. Do you think you can get the message that has been programed into the beacon to be broadcasted over our radios?" Carter asked.

"I'll let Kat do that. She's better at this than I am." Emile admitted giving Noble's tech expert a sideways glance.

"Commander, I haven't found any explosive residue on the Hog or in the surrounding area. Plus well the damage we're seeing here is highly inconsistent with all man-made explosives." Kat said shaking her head.

"So what could've caused the damage then we are seeing on the Warthog?" Six asked, looking at the trashed vehicle.

"Plasma perhaps?" Emile asked.

Noble Team's general reaction was along the lines of "Impossible/No way/Can't be, not on Reach."

"Alright, I don't like where this is headed. Still, Kat I want you to look at the distress beacon. See if you can get something out of it." Carter ordered and Emile handed Kat the beacon.

She fiddled with the device before shaking her head. "It's no good, definitely military but I can't even get the unit ID out of this. The thing is so badly damaged I can't get much out of it. Anyway, playing what I have managed to recover." Kat said as she toggled a control and a heavily garbled voice with a fair amount of static began to play over the internal speakers of the Mjolnir helmets of Noble Team. " _*Static*-day! We're und-*static*-ck by enemy *static*-t Innie, I repe-*static*-nie! It's the fuck-*static*-nat! The *static* on Reach!_ " The man said, in the background was the sounds of extremely heavy combat, it didn't sound like a skirmish but a full-blown war zone in the background.

" _What was he trying to say, the static blocked it out. But was he saying that the Covenant is on Reach?_ " Jorge asked his tone shocked.

"I think that the Trooper did say Covenant and that they are on Reach." Six said.

" _That can't be right! Rebels don't leave plasma burns, well they normally don't leave plasma burns._ " Jun added.

"Now that you mention it. There is a lot of blood on the ground." Emile said gesturing and their was a lot of blood on the ground.

"Alright for now we'll assume that it's just a bunch of Innies that have gotten their hands on weapons that are way above their paygrade." Carter said shaking his head.

" _Let's hope that it's Innies who have somehow gotten their hands on Covenant kit._ " Jun said his tone hopeful.

" _Agreed._ " Jorge added.

"Alright. There's nothing more we can find here. Let's move on Noble Team." Carter ordered and with a brief hand signal the three other Spartans that were on the ground moved out with all the quietness of a ghost.

" _Boss, I am seeing smoke coming up from one of the nearby structures._ " Jorge said.

"Affirmative. Circle around to the west and check it out. Noble Team you're cleared to engage. Weapons selective, no need to telegraph our presence to the entire valley." He ordered and the Spartans flashed their status lights in acknowledgement.

The Spartans moved through a gate, it appeared to be walking path up to the front of the structure where the Warthog's corpse was. As they moved, they spooked a few Moa which let out an indignant squawk and then hustled past them heading in the opposite direction. They surmounted a flight of stairs and came to a door that lead into the structure.

"Six, move into the house. I am right behind you." Carter whispered and Six flashed his acknowledgement light in response. The Spartan entered the house, it was a fair degree darker inside, but his eyes adjusted for it almost immediately. He quickly but quietly and effectively swept the structure, checking every single possible hiding spot and room in the building.

"All clear." Six said.

" _Noble-Leader, I am picking up heat sigs in the next structure ahead!_ " Jun said suddenly.

"Affirmative, Charlie Two I want you to drop Noble Five off at the next courtyard. We could use his assistance." Carter ordered.

" _Roger Noble Leader._ " The pilot of Charlie Two said.

The four Spartans burst out of the house and into a courtyard. Charlie Two was in the process of landing in order to drop off Noble Five. Once the S-II had dismounted from the Falcon the pilot increased power and the VTOL craft took off.

The Spartans approached the building and a civilian man stepped out. He was roughly five feet two inches in height, with an average build, and wearing clothes that testified to his life as a farmer.

The moment he saw the Spartans he took a step back reflexively in shock. But then again, most people when they saw five individual walking armies appear on their door step had that reaction. Emile nearly leveled his double-barreled pump action shotgun at the man, but Jorge put a hand up and shook his head. "Don't Four, he's just a farmer not an Innie. A terrified one at that, the last thing we need is someone leveling a shotgun at them." He said before he turned to the man who spoke almost immediately, it sounded like it was Hungarian, but regardless the translation software whispered into the ear of the Spartans.

"I didn't do anything." He said.

"Jorge ask him why they are hiding here. They all seem a little skittish." Carter ordered and the Spartan-II nodded in response.

Jorge then stepped forward and spoke in perfectly fluent Hungarian. "It's alright, we're not here for you. Were investigating why a relay nearby went offline, we just have a few questions for you."

"A-alright."

"What happened here and why are you hiding?" Jorge asked in Hungarian.

"We just don't want to die." He said before continuing in rapid-fire Hungarian.

"There hiding, sir. Something attacked the neighbors last night. They heard screams, shouting, gunfire, even a few explosions. It all stopped around sunrise." Jorge said, translating for the man.

The farmer continued speaking, but his voice grew ragged and he began to weep as he spoke. "He says something in the fields, killed his son." Jorge said, shaking his head solemnly.

"Hold on, some- _thing_?" Carter asked, sounding confused.

Before Jorge could ask for a description of what had killed this farmer's son. Jun's voice came over the Comm. " _Boss, I am detecting heat signatures in the structure directly to the east of your position. Over._ "

"Damnit. Jorge, get these civilians back inside! We're moving out." Carter ordered and the Spartan-II nodded in response before speaking to the farmer in Hungarian in a commanding voice "Get in! Get in!" He said and the farmer immediately got into the house, closed the door, and with a tiny _click_ locked it.

"Move! Move! Noble Team, double time!" Carter barked, the five Spartans that were on the ground turned and moved into a dead sprint, moving at over fifty kilometers per hour. They covered the distance from the occupied homestead to the other one in just under ninety seconds.

When they reached the structure, they started receiving friendly IFF signatures. Two signatures in fact. Using those IFFs as a beacon, they moved in. What they found as they rounded a corner would most certainly make any FNG/NUB lose their lunch. There was three civilians and two of the missing troopers, all dead. It was messy.

"Goddamnit." Jorge muttered at the sight that he was seeing.

"Noble Three, we've found what the heat sigs are. Two of the missing troopers with civilian casualties. It appears that they were interrogated and then executed. It's messy." Carter said.

" _Goddamnit._ " Jun said over the radio.

"Sir, the wounds on these Civilians. This wasn't done by gunfire." Jorge said as he examined one of the corpses.

"What do you mean?" Carter asked sounding confused.

"This was caused by plasma, no human weapon, with the exception of the Spartan Laser can inflict damage like this." Jorge said grimly.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Emile said in a low voice.

"Don't say that! You say that and then something bad will happen!" Six snapped in alarm. "At least, it does for me." he added.

"Never would've thought I would've seen that. A superstitious spartan." Emile mused aloud.

"I am not superstitious, it's just that plasma burns, combined with what was likely plasma damage on that destroyed Warthog. It's pointing to just one thing." Six replied.

"Commander, you think that's bad. I am seeing avian footprints in the blood." Kat said from where she was kneeling.

Carter stooped and began to examine the print himself. After a moment he stood up "Certainly not Moa or a Reach Eagle that's for sure. Plus it's doubtful that it's a vulture." Carter said before signalling for the Spartans to move out.

As they moved through the structure, there was suddenly a clatter above them and there motion tracker painted a target. "Movement! Watch your trackers!" Carter said as they left the structure and swept a courtyard.

No contacts. That was odd, their motion trackers had clearly detected something and had clearly marked it as hostile. Where was the stupid thing?

"Okay, what the fuck was that?" Emile asked.

"I dunno, I didn't see it." Kat replied.

"Same here. Didn't get a look at whatever the hell it was." Jorge replied.

"Jun got anything?" Carter asked over the comms.

" _Negative, I got nothin._ " Jun replied and thus shaking his head in slight dismay, Carter signalled for Noble Team to follow him into the next structure. They swept the structure and found nothing in it.

Suddenly Jun's voice crackled over the comms again. " _Boss, I am seeing movement directly outside the structure you're in!_ " Jun said and Carter was immediately on alert. "Noble Two! Move to the west, we're about to be flanked! Six, you're on point!" Carter barked and acknowledgement lights winked in response.

Six was on point and thus the first one to spot the problem. "What the fuck?" he asked aloud as he spotted fifteen Covenant ground troops. Five Skirmishers and ten Grunts. One of the avian aliens noticed the Spartans and started squawking and signaling to its compatriots about the threat.

"Huh?" Jorge asked as he spotted the aliens as well before Carter could ask what was wrong however. "Oh _god-fucking-damnit_!" Emile snarled as Jorge yelled "Covenant!" Then all hell broke loose.

The aliens opened fire, shots from Improved Plasma Rifles, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, Needlers, Covenant Carbines, and Needle Rifles lanced forward. Lethal bolts of blue energy, green-white projectiles, and razor sharp pink crystals lanced toward the Spartans. The glass windows that overlooked the courtyard the enemy soldiers was either slagged or shattered in mere moments.

"Contacts! Contacts! Noble Team Weapons Free!" Carter yelled.

 **AN: DUN! DUN! DUUUUN! Hello Covenant Bastards! Anything to add General?**

 **General: CLIFFHANGARS! Nothing really but hoped you readers enjoyed it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: DUN DUN DUN! The Covenant are on Reach! So, the Reach Campaign has begun. It's just gonna go down hill from here. Oh also, we don't own Red vs. Blue, that is the property of Rooster Teeth. Anything to add General?**

 **General: War is hell, it always has been.**

* * *

 **0200 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calender)**

 **0900 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Viery Territory near Visegrád Relay**

"Contacts! Contacts! Noble Team weapons free!" Carter shouted as the aliens unleashed hell. Instantly Six opened fire with his MA6 Assault Rifle, with a burst of hypervelocity cracks, three ten gram 7.62mm conical tungsten carbide projectiles were magnetically accelerated out of the barrel and completely decapitated an unfortunate Grunt Minor sending bright blue ichor shooting skyward as the alien flopped over dead.

"Here we go!" Jorge growled and then with a sound that would calm anyone his M247H opened fire and unleashed a stream of 12.7x99mm HEAPI and HEAPI-T rounds at a rate of fire of six hundred rounds per minute. Brass shell casings dropped out of the bottom of the weapon at a prodigious rate. With a sweeping motion Jorge racked his fire across the aliens, pulping several unfortunate Grunts and pulverizing the upper body of an unlucky Skirmisher.

Subtle cracks resounded as Carter's DMR opened fire, rounds blitzed forward and killed two more Skirmishers with headshots and several more Grunts. The Skirmishers realizing that considering they had poor cover couldn't stay where they were sprinted forward, waving the Grunts on as they did so. The remaining aliens sprinted forward as well, desperate to get out of the Spartans line of fire.

"Shit! They are heading into the basement! Head down there and engage!" Carter said calmly as he began to head in that direction.

Unfortunately for the aliens, one Spartan of NOBLE Team was already a step ahead of Carter, for the aliens ran head-first into Emile. " _Surprise motherfuckers!_ " The Spartan bellowed over TEAMCOM before firing his shotgun. The double-barrelled eight-gauge M90 MkII pump-action shotgun thundered angrily. The rest of the Spartans came thundering down the stairs and entered the basement just as the last Skirmisher had it's entire upper body removed thanks to Emile's shotgun.

With a sharp hand motion, Carter motioned for Noble Team to advance. The Spartans quickly left the structure behind and advanced toward a covered bridge, but first they had to clear out the farm. That's were more contacts, an Elite Minor leading a clutch of Grunts, greeted them. But as they engaged the enemy a very distinct blood-curdling scream filled the air.

Six glanced up and spotted the source of the sound. Two Covenant Banshees. His momentary glance allowed the Elite before it was put out of it's misery by Kat with a headshot from her magnum to land a plasma shot on him, his shields took the blow, being drained by a slight amount. However Carter had also noticed the threat.

"Banshees! Heads-up Charlie One!" Carter barked as the Falcon sidestepped in order to avoid a burst of lethal energy bolts. " _Affirmative, Charlie One engaging hostiles!_ " The pilot boomed over the coms as the Falcon once again maneuvered to avoid being hit by plasma. Then with a hurricane roar the 20mm chin gun engaged the first Banshee, the other Banshee used the distraction to try and come at the Falcon from the side. But it was for naught for with a quartet of hypervelocity _bangs_ four 14.5mm tungsten carbide rounds from Jun's Rifle rang out, the slugs that were hurled out of the rail rifle slammed into the Banshee's nose and simply caused the lightweight nanolaminate armor to either crumple or shatter as the rounds effortlessly over-penetrated the alien attack craft and pulped it's unfortunate pilot. The Banshee dropped like a rock, one of its stubby wings caught on a sheet metal fence and went tumbling end over end and became a cart-wheeling ball of purple-blue fire.

The other Banshee however was proving to be incredibly hard to hit. It was doing nearly every trick in the book in an attempt to out maneuver the Falcon, but considering that the Falcon like the Banshee had the ability to hover, combined with the pilot having an In-Helmet Head's Up Display, the two craft were just about even.

Keyword being just.

In a brilliant move, the Falcon suddenly shot forward while maneuvering and firing it's 20mm chin gun. The Banshee panicked and dove for the deck, but that gave the Falcon an absolutely perfect shot, with a single burst of twenty millimeter SAPHE rounds the Falcon simply blew the Banshee apart.

While that duel had been going on, Noble Team had killed the last of the Covenant on the farm and now they were advancing toward the covered bridge that crossed the stream. With a nearly imperceptible whine, a Covenant Spirit Dropship escorted by two more Banshees appeared. " _Noble Leader, we got a dropship escorted by two more Banshees inbound!_ " Jun said over the coms as the alien attack craft broke from their escort positions and went after Charlie 1.

The Spirit unleashed hell, it's plasma cannon sending angry red bolts of energy lancing toward them. The energy bolts burned holes into the ground and a single lucky shot connected with Kat, her energy shield flared brilliantly and then blinked out of existence and the blow caused her to stagger. "Damnit! Shields down!" She snarled while doing a combat roll, while in the meantime the Spirit dropship continued firing, lethal energy bolts lancing toward them.

It had the intended effect, in the face of overwhelming firepower the Spartans were forced to fallback, back towards the farm as Charlie One engaged the Banshees. But this time the two alien fliers were good, they coordinated their attacks expertly. Making sure that the Tiltrotor-esque craft spent more time dodging then attacking. While in the meantime, the Spirit Dropship deposited its clutch of twenty Covenant infantry, a mix of Elites, Skirmishers, Jackals, and Grunts; then beat a hasty retreat. Which while odd, the reason quickly became clear when another voice rang over the comms " _Charlie Two, engaging bandits!_ " As the second Falcon roared into view, it's chin gun blazing.

The effect was nearly instant, the first banshee got clipped by two rounds from Charlie Two's first burst, barely succeeded in dodging the second burst, and was nailed dead on by the third burst which sheared it's left wing off. That sent the Banshee into a wild spin that terminated on the covered bridge where it exploded and promptly engulfed the structure in flames, turning the vast majority of the aliens who had been in the process of advancing across said bridge into barbeque.

The other Banshee, thrown off balance by the loss of it's wingman was made easy prey for Charlie One, a single burst of twenty millimeter shells caught the alien craft dead center and simply turned it into the shrapnel while on the ground, Noble Team effortlessly mopped up the remaining Covenant ground forces.

"Noble Team stand down, contacts neutralized." Carter said, before motioning for the Spartans to move out. The Spartans trudged through the stream and walked past the ruins of the bridge.

" _Contacts?_ With respect sir, it's the _goddamned_ _Covenant_!" Jorge hissed out in anger. The Covenant were on Reach, to say that this was _bad_ was an extreme understatement.

"I realize that Jorge. As it stands right now, we've got a major problem on our hands. The Covenant are the reason why the relay went down, why the Trooper Fireteams went MIA, it also explains the damage the Warthog, the content of the message in that emergency beacon, the injuries we found on those dead civilians and Troopers. It all fits." Carter said, shaking his head.

"Look on the bright side big man." Emile began.

"What bright side, Emile?" Jorge asked incredulous. "The Covenant is on Reach, if it falls then humanity's chances of winning the war against them will unless a massive miracle occurs will fall to zero." The Spartan-II hissed out angrily.

"The bright side is that this entire valley has just turned into a free-fire zone. You see an alien you can shoot it. The same goes for Innies." Emile said, his tone of voice indicating that it was an obvious attempt to cheer Jorge up.

"Enough of that. Kat, I need you at that relay _now_. We got to warn Holland." Carter growled in response, but before they could call in Charlie Two to pick her up. Jun's voice crackled over the comms. " _Boss, I got eyes on more hostiles to the east!_ "

The Spartans of Noble Team shared a look with each other. _It's going to be a long day isn't it?_ Six thought as Carter gave out the next set of orders. "Alright, we're on it Jun. Six, you're on point."

Problem was, Noble Six had no idea how long of a day it was in fact going to be and that while he knew this was just the first battle of a larger campaign, it was going to be incredibly tough.

* * *

 **0225 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **0925 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **D+01:04:35:12 (Corporal Travis Mission Clock)**

3 Charlie 6 was having an extremely bad day. It had all started out so simple, but now everything was going to hell in a handbasket. Their last vehicle, a singular M12 LRV was blazing away for all it's worth against the seemingly endless horde of Covenant infantry, that damn gun had been shooting non-stop for thirty minutes now.

Not that they could go anywhere, the Warthog had taken a hit from a Spirit Dropship earlier that completely and utterly slagged one of the wheels and a suspension arm. Plus destroyed the engine block with the heat and kinetic force from the bolt impacting. Bottomline, that Hog was stuck.

"Heads up! Another bogey in bound! Damnit he brought some friends with him!" Someone shouted as a Covenant dropship, this one of the Phantom variety barrelled in. Escorting it were two Banshees.

"Jonas how many Jackhammers do we got left!" Travis bellowed as he prepared his MA6 for the oncoming assault.

"First off sir! It's Jones not Jonas! As for Jackhammers we got exactly _two_ left and then that Launcher would be more useful as a club!" Jones shot back.

"Good! Jonas, use those Jackhammers on them Banshees! Do it before they destroy the Warthog!" Travis yelled as the M12 LRV's M46 LAAG roared to life, spewing death at the Phantom dropship.

"3 Charlie open fire!" Travis bellowed and then opened fire with his MA6. Hypervelocity cracks rained as MA6s poured fire into the Phantom, the members of 3 Charlie 6 were good when it came to taking down Covenant Phantom Dropships. One just had to aim for the Plasma Turbines and watch the fireworks.

With a fiery _whoosh_ , one of the Jackhammers flew out of the tube and blew a Banshee to bits as it came in for a strafing run. A moment later, with another high-pitched scream, the last remaining Jackhammer flung itself out of it's tube.

The enemy Banshee tried to out maneuver the missile, but at a range of less two kilometers it was impossible. The missile hit the Banshee and blew it apart.

That's when the Phantom opened fire, sizzling red energy bolts knifed toward the positions that the remains of 3 Charlie were positioned in, the energy bursts impacted all around the humans.

One bolt speared Jonas in the chest, the shot laughed at his battered Wolverine and punched a hole the size of a salad plate into his chest. He crumpled without a sound.

 _Shit._ Travis thought as more energy bolts streamed toward them. The gun on the Warthog continued to blaze away at the Phantom. Finally with an explosive _bang_ that rocked the Covenant dropship, one of its plasma turbines exploded.

Bluish-purple flames began to billow out of the enemy dropship as it entered a death spiral. The vaguely beetle shaped drop ship slammed into the ground and was torn to pieces as skidded into the river that was near their position.

"Boss! Try the radio again, this thing only has maybe ten minutes of continuous firing left. As it stands though, the gun is starting to overheat, it won't be long before this thing is done-for. Once we lose Old Faithful here, we're toast." Private Miller, who was manning the gun said.

"Agreed Private." Travis said and then he keyed his radio.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Three Charlie Six, does anyone read? We've been attacked by Covenant forces! I repeat the Covenant is on Reach!" Travis barked, he repeated the message twice.

"Corporal! Enemy Spirit's inbound!" Specialist Ashley Williams yelled as two more Spirit Dropships appeared like the apparitions they were named after. Their plasma autocannons blazing.

The Warthog opened fire, sending a stream of hot lead racing toward the Covenant fliers. The bullets either sparkled off or punctured straight through the chitinous armor of the vehicles, with the rounds that penetrated likely turning the infantry inside to pulp, in retaliation one of the Spirit's walked plasma fire up to the Warthog.

Miller barely had the chance to scream before several plasma bolts burned through the light armor of the Warthog and caused the remaining 12.7x99mm ammunition and the remaining hydrogen that was in the fuel cell to explode. With a deafening **boom** the Warthog exploded, spraying shrapnel in all directions. Specialist Williams screamed as a two-inch long piece of Titanium skewered him through the abdomen.

"Man down!" Travis yelled as the two dropships entered a hover and then descended, the side doors on the alien craft opening and revealing the enemy ground troops.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We're under attack by Covenant forces! I've got wounded here! We can't hold our position!" Travis shouted as the two dropships departed, having deposited a variety of Grunts, Skirmishers, Jackals, and Elites.

Plasma and Crystalline needles was slamming the cover that 3 Charlie had left, while across the river firing from good cover, where the Covenant. Travis shouted in pain as he popped out of cover to fire a burst and caught a plasma bolt for his trouble.

The kinetic force of the blow caused him to stumble backwards and sent a bolt of fiery pain across his chest. He then dove back behind cover, barely dodging another burst of energy. He snapped his rifle up and fired burst after burst from his MA6 Assault Rifle. His magazine hit empty, he smacked the magazine release and the spent magazine fell to the soft ground below.

He searched around in the various pouches on his armor frantically for another magazine. He finally found one and then glanced at his HUD. "Last Mag!" he cried over the radio before opening fire again.

With a roaring crash, an antimatter grenade detonated. It tossed the remains of Private McNair back like a ragdoll, he glanced at his TEAMBIO. Just three members were left, it was bad and the end was upon 3 Charlie 6.

In the background a faint song began to play. It sounded like classical music, but Travis wasn't sure.

He glanced at his ammunition counter, ten rounds left and their was at least twelve Covenant still alive. With a satisfying _wham_ an M9 HEDP grenade detonated and blew the last pair of Jackals into bloody ribbons.

The music was louder now, however also going on seemingly in rhythm with the music was an engine roaring and growling.

An Elite signaled for its remaining soldiers to rush the remaining humans and that's when all hell broke loose. With a howling roar from it's engine a common civilian truck leaped into view, bounding off a fallen tree. It landed with a heavy thud and almost immediately afterward turned about six Covenant soldiers into speed bumps.

The radio was blasting the lyrics from the classic song "Now you're messin' with a sonofabitch" by Nazareth. But more to that matter was who was _in_ the truck and riding on the bed wielding a big machine gun.

Spartans.

A fifty caliber machine gun roared and almost drowned out the cracks of a DMR, the snarl of the engine, and blaring rock music. Keyword being _almost_. The truck fishtailed as the driver spun it 180 degrees and then hit the gas again.

The few aliens that had survived the sudden arrival of the two ton death machine's first pass didn't survive the second. "Six, just to set the record straight. You drive like a madman and I've ridden with ODSTs and _they_ drive like maniacs. To be frank I'd prefer driving with ODSTs than with you." A Spartan with black and orange armor growled, but in a seemingly jovial way.

"It wasn't that _bad_ , Noble Five. At least I didn't run over a Hunter this time around, that's never fun." A Spartan in brick red and blue-grey armor replied in a jovial fashion as well.

The third the spartan, clad in blue and steel armor just didn't really seem to react. Instead he just strode toward Travis. Who was in the process of, metaphorically speaking, of picking his jaw off the ground at what had just occurred.

"Corporal, what's the situation here?" The Spartan asked.

"Bad sir. The reason the relay went down has to be because of the Covenant. I was told be ready for anything, didn't know I was supposed to be ready to engage Covenant forces. How the _fuck_ did the bastards get in-system without us detecting them?" Travis said with a growl.

"We'll worry about how the Covenant got on Reach without us knowing later. Still how have your encounters gone?" The lead Spartan asked.

"Badly, we started with a full squad and now I am down to just myself and two other men. If anything, can I please evacuate what's left?" Travis asked hopefully.

"Granted." The led Spartan said.

"Thank you sir." Travis replied, when suddenly the led Spartan spoke again.

"Scratch that! Overwatch says we got three more Phantoms inbound! The Falcon Charlie Two is inbound to provide both interception and covering fire." The led Spartan announced in a monotone.

"Great, Three Charlie! Defensive positions because here we go again!" Travis called out.

" _Ugh!_ " Was the general response from the remains of 3 Charlie Six.

"Charlie Two, what's your ETA?" The led Spartan asked as one of the Spartans maneuvered the truck into a relatively good defensive position and one of the other Spartans rather effortlessly knocked down a tree that was somehow still standing so the Troopers of 3 Charlie 6 could have some decent cover.

" _ETA to your position is forty-five seconds. Be advised, those Covenant Dropships will likely be arriving at your position just seconds after I do._ " The pilot of Charlie Two announced.

"Affirmative." One of the Spartans replied.

Travis glanced at his ammunition counter and frowned. He was completely out of ammunition, sighing. He went to remains of Private Jonas and was relieved when he found two full magazines and after checking his rifle, found another magazine roughly half empty. He slotted one of the full magazines into his MA6 and was relieved when the ammunition counter went from 00 to 36.

With a roar from thundering rotors, the Falcon Charlie 2 arrived.

True enough, just fifteen seconds after the Falcon arrived. Their anti-gravity drives thrumming, three Type-52 Phantoms, first seen on Fumirole appeared. Each one was likely carrying nearly a full load of Covenant troops.

" _Charlie Two, weapons free._ " The pilot of Charlie Two said and then the chingun roared.

A stream of 20mm cannon shells streaked toward the lead Phantom. Well aimed bursts of rounds tore into the starboard side Plasma Turbine. Each shell punched through the casing and then released a high-heat explosion. After just a few bursts the targeted turbine exploded with tremendous force. Simply shredding the entirety of the starboard side of the Phantom. The lead Phantom simply dropped from the sky, burying its nose into the ground. The nose snapped off and the remains of the dropship simply flipped onto it's back. Moments later with a tremendous rushing roar the Plasma reactor gave in and the dropship exploded, throwing shrapnel everywhere, but mostly upwards.

The Phantom which had been on the starboard side of the leader had obviously been crippled by the debris shower from the plasma turbine on the lead dropship exploding. The sudden amount of shrapnel from the now exploded remains of the lead Phantom riddled it's underbelly. This second Phantom tried to get to a safe spot to attempt a crash landing, but Charlie Two wasn't having any of it.

Bursts of 20mm cannon fire lashed out at the retreating Covenant vessel. The shells punched through the armor and detonated inside it's passenger compartment. Then one of the bursts struck further aft, just behind the troop compartment and then with only several sudden secondary explosions being the only warning. The whole dropship exploded violently, becoming the center of a powerful-blue white star that kicked up immense amounts of dust, dirt, and rock, flattened what few trees remained, and kicked the river up into a frenzy.

With a violent _crunch_ followed by a shriek of rending metals, the other Phantom crash landed hard. From the sound of it, the thing had then slid for several dozen meters before coming to a stop.

"Can't see anything." One of the Spartans said. "Switching to Thermal."

Travis did the same and quickly found the remains of the last Phantom. A few figures appeared on Thermal, staggering away from the crash. He lined up one of the aliens and pulled the trigger, the rifle jerked and spat three tungsten projectiles.

One of the aliens staggered from the burst. Travis fired two more bursts and grinned when the alien dropped dead. Moments later more bursts from MA6s rang out and then came the thundering roar of an M247H HMG and the subtle cracks of a DMR.

The surviving aliens, of which there weren't many were quickly felled by fire from the remaining humans. "Clear!" one of the Spartans barked as the last alien dropped dead.

A moment later Charlie Two landed, the Falcon was followed a few seconds later by Charlie One. Travis noted that there was an additional Spartan inside one of the Falcons and realizing that the unfortunate Falcon in question would have to carry _three_ additional Spartans. He could already hear the pilot bitching about weight limits and how a Falcon would struggle to carry four Spartans. It could do it, but wouldn't be able to maneuver worth a damn.

Travis led the remains of his team to the other Falcon. He first allowed his surviving squadmates to get into the tilt rotor-esque craft but before he got into the Falcon himself, he glanced at the Spartan team that was piling into the Falcon.

"Commander, sir." Travis called and the Spartan in Blue and Steel armor turned toward him.

"Yes Corporal?" The Spartan asked.

"Thanks for saving my team as well as myself. We wouldn't have lasted much longer without your help." Travis said and while he couldn't see due to the fact that the Spartan's visor was polarized, he had the feeling that, the man -or woman he couldn't tell- had a smile on their face.

"No problem Corporal, just a regular day's work for us. You get your men out of here. We got to clear out the relay and alert HIGHCOM about the Covenant being on Reach." The Spartan said in response.

"Right, anyway. God Speed Spartans." Travis said before stepping onto the Falcon himself.

"You too Corporal. We're all going to need our fair share of luck to survive this campaign and keep Reach in human hands." The Spartan said and then got into the Falcon, signaled to the pilot and the bird took-off.

Travis nodded in understanding and then signalled to the pilot of the Falcon that they were in. The noise of the engines increased and with only some subtle swaying from side to side the Falcon lifted off the ground and into the air. It turned toward civilization and to home.

For 3 Charlie 6, an ordeal from hell was over. But the real ordeal was just beginning.

* * *

 **0403 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1103 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Military Reservation 01478-A**

 **Following Sergeant Minna**

Minna sighed as she looked over the specifications of the hardware and software upgrade for the Wolverine Combat Powered Exoskeleton that was being pushed out, the 20th Infantry Division had received the upgrade recently. The upgrade mostly consisted of improved Carbon nanotube actuators and micro-servomotors, a major firmware upgrade/rewrite, new quantum mirror for the motion tracker, a new micro-fusion reactor that was smaller but provided the same amount of power as the current one, and lastly enough storage space in the armor to handle a Class C5 "Dumb" Artificial Intelligence.

Basically it meant a new bodysuit, a new reactor hump piece, a new quantum mirror, and a new firmware chip. That was kind of incredible, usually an upgrade of that scale back home well it wouldn't happen.

Personally Minna also wasn't sure how the hell they managed to squeeze in an AI into the Wolverine because they needed a University or a Starship to run, but she figured that it had to do with the fact that in the reactor hump, in the extra space left by the now smaller reactor, they'd put a noticeable amount of computer tech in their but it probably wasn't enough to store or run an entire AI, maybe they were putting a new-type of AI data chip into service where the AI could actually run off just the chip if processors and power was available? That made some sense, but Minna wasn't exactly sure, then again all of this fancy technology wasn't really her forte, she used them but she didn't know how to fix them.

That was more the forte of Private Richard "Dick" Simmons of 3rd Platoon, 2nd Squad, Fire Team Charlie. That man was an absolute genius when it came to tech. Which meant that he spent most of his time fixing technical bugs and such throughout the platoon.

She cursed as her datapad bugged up again. The most current model of datapad while it was powerful it also had a reputation for being rather buggy. However from what she'd heard Simmons had succeeded in solving that particular problem.

Thus with that in mind, she decided to go and track down the young private.

However after thirty minutes of searching, she couldn't find him. Where the hell was he? It was disconcerting that a man could simply disappear on base with such ease.

So it was safe to say that she was relieved when she bumped into Lieutenant Heyliger.

"Lieutenant!" Minna said as she snapped to attention. Heyliger returned the salute.

"At ease, Sergeant Wilcke, what's the rush?" Heyliger asked.

"Sir, I am looking for Private Simmons." Minna answered.

"Technical problem?" Heyliger guessed.

"Yes sir, have you seen Private Simmons by any chance?" Minna asked.

"Not really but I think I saw him in the mess hall." Heyliger suggested.

"Thank you, sir." Minna said as she made her way towards the mess hall however once there, the private in question was not there. However there was Sergeant Tanner from First Platoon, eating some bread.

"Hey Minnie, how are you doing?" Tanner said. Minna internally groaned at Tanner's nickname for her, all because he misheard her name being called out.

"I am doing fine, Tanner but I have a question to ask." Minna answered.

"Ask away." Tanner replied.

"Have you seen, Private Simmons?" Minna asked.

"Private Simmons? Oh you just missed him, he went off with Private Grif and Sergeant Sarge to the Simulators but I can't remember which one of them though." Tanner replied.

"Thanks Tanner." Minna said as she headed in the direction of the Simulators.

"No problem Minnie." Tanner called out. Minna headed to the building where the simulators were housed. Just as she approached the building she bumped into someone else.

"Minna? Where are you going in a hurry?" asked a very familiar voice. Minna looked up and sure enough, it was Amirah.

"Hello Amirah, I am not in a rush, just trying to find a Private Simmons, have you seen one?" Minna asked.

"I think so, in the Battle Simulator, last I recall, should still be there, I saw him enter a few minutes ago" Amirah said.

"Thanks Amirah." Minna said.

"No problem, glad to help." Amirah said as she headed down the hallway. Minna headed to where the Battle Simulator was housed and sure enough, who she had been looking for was there.

She frowned when she saw what was on a display screen for spectators to watch the simulations.

From the looks of it, the simulator had simulation 701-5 running, although everyone just called it Blood Gulch. However it was how everything was happening that caught Minna's attention. It was a custom simulation titled "Red vs. Blue".

 _Now what the hell are the guys in 2nd Squad doing?_ Minna thought confused as it began. What she saw was unexpected and quite amusing.

 **Inside the simulator**

Simulation 701-5 or Blood Gulch was one of the favorite simulations for the men and women of the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_. Mainly because it allowed an absolutely perfect mix of various tactics. Flanking, sniping, vehicle skirmishing, vehicle combat, hand-to-hand, you named it the tactic was likely possible.

The simulation itself was composed of a box canyon, composed of sandstone, with red clay soil, a few scattered trees, and a few other things. At each end of the canyon was a single story prefabricated concrete bunkers: one for red team and the other for blue team.

 ***Cue Red vs. Blue opening, The Blood Gulch Chronicles remastered Season 1***

Today however, instead of all out carnage between two fireteams in the same squad. The tone was a lot different, standing on the roof of the Red Team Bunker, each holding a single M6G Magnum in a weaver grip with the gun barrel pointed down was a pair of troopers, who using the armor customization tool that the simulator had made the armor plates of their Wolverine Powered Combat Exoskeletons colored orange and maroon with the undersuit black, the visors were fully reflective and were roughly amber in color, hiding their faces.

"Hey Grif?" the one in maroon armor asked.

"Yeah, Simmons?" the one in orange armor, Grif replied.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" Simmons asked.

Although one couldn't see his face, Grif looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he replied. "It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night."

Just by looking at the body language that Simmons made in response to that, he wasn't expecting that. " … What?! I mean why are out here, in this canyon?" He asked in a tone that clearly showed that he wasn't expecting the answer that he had gotten.

Grif" for his part, made a pose that clearly showed he had misinterpreted the question. "Oh, um. Yeah … not exactly sure why." Grif said.

"So what was all of that stuff about God?" Simmons asked.

"Oh that? Uh nothing." Grif replied in a semi-meek tone.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Simmons inquired in a curious tone.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Seriously though, why are we out here? As far as I can tell, it's just a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. No way in or out."

"Uh-huh."

"The only reason that we set up a Red Base here, is because they have a Blue Base over there. And the only reason they have a Blue Base over there, is because we have a Red Base here." Simmons continued.

"Right, you know that's because we're fighting each other?"

"No, no. But I mean, even if we were to pull out today, and if they would come take our base, they would have _two_ bases in the middle of a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. Whoopdee-fucking-doo."

"Huh, yeah what's up with that? I signed on to fight a bunch of aliens, next thing I know Admiral Cole is blowing up the whole damn Covenant armada and I am stuck in the middle of nowhere; fighting a bunch of blue guys." Grif said in a confused tone.

On a cliff near the Red Base, were two additional soldiers. The only thing that was the same as the armor as Simmons and Grif wore was the visor and the weapon that one of them wielded. The color of their armor was different, one had cobalt armor and the other had aqua armor. The one with cobalt armor was wielding an SRS-99 while the one in aqua armor had a simple magnum.

The two soldiers were Privates Church and Tucker respectively.

" … What are they doing now?" Tucker asked in a bored tone.

Church slowly turned toward Tucker, lowering his SRS-99 as he did so. "What?" he asked in a semi-confused voice.

"I said "what are they doing now?"." Tucker asked.

" _Goddamnit_ , I am so incredibly tired of getting that fucking question." replied a frustrated Church.

"You have the fucking rifle, I can't see shit. Don't start to bitch at me because I'm not gonna just sit up here and play with my di-" Tucker rebutted before Church interrupted.

"Okay, okay, look... they're just standing there and talking, okay?" Church said angrily, "That's all they're doing. That's all they ever do, is just stand there and talk. That's what they were doing last week, that's what they were doing when you asked me five minutes ago. So, five minutes from now, when you ask me, "What are they doing?" my answer's gonna be, "They're still just talking, and they're still just standing there!"

"... So what are they talking about?" Tucker asked after a few moments of silence.

"...You know what? I fucking hate you." Church replied annoyedly.

 **At the same time**

"Talk about a waste of resources. I mean, we should be out there finding new and intelligent forms of life... you know, fight them." Grif argued.

"Yeah, no shit. That's why they should put us in charge." Simmons agreeing with Grif. That was when a soldier in red armour appeared, it was Sarge.

"Ladies, front and center on the double!" Sarge barked.

"Fuck." Simmons cursed under his breath.

"Yes, sir!" Grif replied as the two headed to where Sarge was standing.

"Hurry up, ladies. This ain't no ice cream social." Sarge barked.

"Ice cream social?" Simmons repeated in confusion before exchanging glances with Simmons.

"Stop the pillow talk, you two. Anyone want to guess why I gathered you here today?" Sarge asked.

"Uh, is it because the war's over and you're sending us home?" Grif wishfully asked.

"That's exactly it, Private. War's over. We won. Turns out you're the big hero and we're gonna hold a parade in your honor. I get to drive the float, and Simmons here IS IN CHARGE OF CONFETTI!" Sarge sarcastically replied.

"I'm no stranger to sarcasm, sir." Grif replied.

"Goddamn it, Private! Shut your mouth or else I'll have Simmons slit your throat while you're asleep!" Sarge snapped.

"Oh I'd do it, too." Simmons replied in agreement.

"I know you would, Simmons. Good man." Sarge nodded, "Couple of things today, ladies. Command has seen fit to increase our ranks here at Blood Gulch Outpost Number One."

"Crap. We're getting a rookie." Grif groaned.

"That's right, dead man. Our new recruit will be here within the week, but today we received the first part of our shipment from Command." Sarge said as he turned to the hill, "Lopez, bring up the vehicle."

Then a large, armor-plated, jeep-like vehicle comes over the rise with Lopez in the driver seat, who pulls up alongside the Reds.

"Shotgun!" Simmons called out.

"Shotgun!" Grif shouted but realizes he was a second behind, "Fuck."

"May I introduce our new, light reconnaissance vehicle." Sarge began describing the vehicle, "It has four inch armor plating, mag bumper suspension, a mounted machine gunner position, and total seating for three. Gentlemen, this is the M12 LRV! I like to call it the Warthog."

"Why Warthog, sir?" Simmons questioned.

"Because M12 LRV is too hard to say in conversation, son." Sarge explained.

"I know, but why Warthog? I mean, it doesn't really look like a pig." Grif asked.

"Say that again." Sarge requested Grif to repeat.

"I think it looks more like a puma." Grif pointed out.

"What in Sam Hell is a puma?" Sarge asked.

"Uh, you mean like the shoe company?" Simmons asked to see if Grif had not mixed up names.

"No, like a puma. It's a big cat, like a lion." Grif explained.

"You're making that up." Sarge accused.

"I'm telling you, it's a real animal!" Grif defended himself.

"Simmons, I want you to poison Grif's next meal." Sarge ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Simmons saluted.

"Look, see these two tow hooks? They look like tusks, and what kind of animal has tusks?" Sarge asked while pointing to the front of the car.

"A walrus." Grif answered.

"Didn't I just tell you to stop making up animals?!" Sarge barked.

Meanwhile with the sniper team

"What is that thing?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, man. Looks like uh.. looks like they've got some sorta car down there. We'd better get back to base and report it." Church said as he lowered his rifle.

"A car? How come they get a car?!" Tucker complained.

"What are you complaining about, man? We're about to get a tank in the very next drop." Church reminded.

"You can't pick up chicks in a tank." Tucker said disappointedly.

"Oh, you know what? You could bitch about anything couldn't you? We're going to get a tank, and you're worried about chicks. What _chicks_ are we gonna pick up, man?! And secondly, how are you gonna pick up chicks in a car that looks like _that_?" Church barked.

"What kind of car is it?" Tucker asked, changing the topic.

"I dunno, I've never seen a car like that before. It looks like a... uh... like a big cat of some kind." Church replied as he peers through the scope of the rifle.

"What, like a puma?" Tucker guessed.

"Yeah, man, there you go." Church nodded.

 **Back to the Recon Car.**

"So unless anybody has anymore mythical creatures to suggest as a name for the new vehicle, we're going to stick with the Warthog. How about it, Grif?" Sarge asked.

"No, sir. No more suggestions." Grif replied, knowing anything he said would be called false.

"Are you sure? How 'bout Bigfoot?" Sarge teased.

"It's okay." Grif said.

"Unicorn?" Sarge tried again.

"No really. Uh, I'm cool." Griff said, trying to end the conversation.

"Sasquatch?" Sarge suggested.

"Leprechaun?" Simmons joined in.

"Hey, he doesn't need any help, man." Grif said to Simmons.

"Phoenix?" Sarge tried again.

"Christ." Grif sighed.

"Hey Simmons, what's the name of that Mexican lizard? Eats all the goats." Sarge asked.

"Uh, that would be the Chupacabra, sir." Simmons answered.

"Hey Grif, Chupathingy! How about that? I like it. Gotta ring to it." Sarge asked.

"How the hell is he the sergeant?" Grif asked under his breath.

 **Meanwhile in the Spectator Room**

Minna laughed out loud at the hilarity that she was seeing, well that and doubting how smart some of the NCOs were. She'd seen stupid before, plus while commanding the 501st Joint Fighter Wing could sometimes feel like running a circus. Well considering that Francesca had an extremely cheerful personality and would because of her age -before they got zapped here, her personality was still cheerful- would act childish and then you had on the other end of the scale Amirah who was a hardened veteran and had a secretive personality.

Which considering how everyone was so incredibly different and how the results often showed that. Still, to see such stupidity and hilarity from fellow UNSC soldiers? It was endearing and reminded her about the good ol' days when they were in _their_ home dimension. Where the Neuroi attacked relatively to a schedule that was knowable and followable the Covenant? Not so much, if anything they were _worse_ than the Neuroi.

Neuroi while they were ruthless at least they weren't bent on total destruction and the utter annihilation of the Human race instead it seemed that they were more bent on domination and enslavement. Not that what the Neuroi were doing was much better it was better than staring total extinction in the face and thus certain death.

Maybe the fight against the Neuroi was going to be tougher than anything she'd ever done before. It'd was way out of her comfort zone, that was for sure. Still, seeing someone honestly goofing off? That warmed her heart and brought a smile to her face.

"Hey Sergeant! Sergeant!" A very familiar and hyper-active voice said from across the room.

She looked and saw Francesca. "Yes Private Luchini?" Minna asked curious.

"Ma'am, a new shipment of vehicles arrived. You should come and see them!" She said in an excited tone.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Minna stood up and stretched and glanced at her watch. It had only been about six or seven minutes since she'd arrived here at the viewing room.

She then followed Francesca and they came to where Lieutenant Heyliger was standing in front of a new vehicle that she'd never seen before.

The vehicle was probably based on the Cougar ATIFV, however it wasn't without it's problems. The Cougar was about as big as a Warthog, yet it had to carry twelve men, it's crew, plus everything else. This meant that the vehicle was rather cramped and that with just one penetrating hit tended to cause the thing to go up like a string of firecrackers.

This vehicle maintained the singular turret and the six-by-six drivetrain system of the Cougar. But it was bigger, roughly fifty feet in length, probably fifteen feet wide, and twenty-two feet high, the turret looked rather menacing mounting what appeared to be a powerful 50mm Magnetic Linear Accelerator, which was a fancy way of saying that it was a railgun. The truth was, this thing whatever it was, was probably going to be replacing the Cougar.

"Lieutenant!" Minna called as she walked up.

Heyliger turned toward her and smiled. "You like it?" he asked.

"It looks impressive, but what is it?" Minna asked curiously.

"It's called the M35 All-Terrain Infantry Combat Vehicle, although it's nickname seems to swing between Mako and Puma. Either way, some of these bad boys are going to be delivered to the 20th Infantry Division, although the majority of these bad boys are going to the 2nd Infantry Regiment, a few are going to the 3rd Infantry Regiment, but they are going to be mainly replacing the Command Cougars that we got." Heyliger said with a grin.

"Nice, so what are these things armed with?" Minna wondered looking at the main gun with a sense of apprehension, she wasn't sure how these new M35s would fair against the Covenant.

"The weapon system is modular, they can mount either a 50mm MLA, one of those Marauder Remote Weapon Systems which means a Gauss cannon, an AIE-46 HMG, and a 7.62mm M247 MMG, or reloadable Argent V Missile pods, or one of them new 12.7x45mm Gauss Repeaters. Either way, they pack a lot of firepower, if we use them correctly we can likely become a major pain in the ass for Covenant Armor Units, they are designed to be use in tandem with MBTs and thus have better armor for that job and they are more roomy inside." Heyliger said glancing at the M35 Mako with a smile.

"These things will be one hell of a surprise for the Covenant, that's for sure." Minna remarked looking at them.

Of course, she didn't know that they were going to be springing these on the Covenant a lot sooner than expected.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Alright, so here we go; another exciting chapter of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach. Anything you wish to add General?**

 **General: This is going to be a long day for everybody involved from top to bottom.**

* * *

 **0305 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1005 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Onboard Falcon Charlie One**

"Noble Two, give me a status report." Commander Carter asked over the TEAMCOM.

" _Ran into a slight snag, Commander._ " Noble Two replied curtly.

Under his helmet, Noble Six frowned. In his book, well there wasn't a word that carried more weight behind it that "snag".

"Explain." Carter barked.

" _The locking mechanism has been flash-fused. That and there is at least two squads of Covenant infantry in this courtyard._ " Kat replied bluntly.

"Can you handle those two snags?" Carter asked.

" _Noble Four sounds like he's having the time of his life. As for the locking mechanism I've dialed up my torch._ " Kat replied in a semi-bored tone.

"Wait, what? Emile is taking on two-squads of Covenant Infantry and is having the time of his life?" Carter questioned shocked.

" _You do realize sir, that Noble Four has always been happiest when he's killing Covenant. He is probably relishing in the challenge._ " Kat said in a bored tone.

"Knowing Noble Four, probably. Anyway, Noble Two, we're two minutes out." Carter said.

" _Affirmative, I'll try and have the door open for you by then._ " Kat replied before cutting the connection.

Carter turned to Six. "Break's over Six." He said.

"Yessir." Six replied and then he went over his ammunition count and frowned. He had used a lot of ammunition and power cells for his MA6 Assault Rifle besides the full magazine in his rifle he had two additional magazines and then he was out of Assault, he was looking okay in terms of grenades, two M9s, a M12, and a pair of Plasma Grenades, lastly he still had all of his Magnum ammunition.

"Getting a little low on ammunition here for the Assault Rifle though." Six added.

"Same here, but then again. We weren't expecting to run into the goddamned Covenant." Carter replied.

Six nodded in response. Had they known they'd encounter the Covenant, well they'd would've been carrying a hell of a lot more ammunition and gear instead of going in with a standard patrol loadout. Still as long as another protracted firefight didn't occur, Six figured he'd be good on ammunition.

" _We're approaching the comm relay._ " The pilot of Charlie One said in a business tone.

The Falcon flew around a ridge and the courtyard for the Comm Relay came into view. There was at least a dozen Grunts of the Minor, Major, and Ultra rank, several Skirmishers, two Elites, and a Brute. They were all exchanging fire with Emile who was ducking and weaving, firing his shotgun almost constantly and throwing grenades when needed.

"Drop us in the courtyard." Carter ordered.

Almost immediately, several of the Covenant soldiers spotted the Falcon and started shooting at it. Globs of green and blue fire as well as purple particle beams lanced toward the Falcon, which started maneuvering erratically.

" _The LZ is too hot for my liking sir!_ " The pilot of Charlie One growled in response as he began to throw his UH-144 through a series of violent maneuvers.

"Put her down pilot." Carter ordered sharply.

" _This is gonna_ suck _!_ " The Pilot growled and brought the Falcon in closer, trying to get to a position in order to drop the Spartans off and evidently the pilot was correct.

For suddenly one of the Elites, leveled it's weapon at the Falcon and fired. The Particle Beam Carbine unleashed a storm of purple bolts of energy. The shots were extremely well-aimed and indicated that the Elite, a General, had brought down his fair share of Falcons before. The first group of three shots penetrated the canopy and punched into the pilot who didn't have a chance to even scream in pain before his bio flatlined, the next three shots knifed into one of the rotor assemblies and tore it apart as the Particle Beams eviscerated the shafts and gears.

Charlie One, now with a dead pilot and hopelessly crippled rotor assembly, lurched violently to one side and lost altitude. "Shiiiiit!" Jun cried as the Falcon spun out of control.

"Lock your armor Spartans!" Carter said in alarm.

Six chined the control and felt his armor lock. Effectively becoming a half-ton statue.

A moment later the Falcon slammed hard into the Courtyard. Aircraft Aluminium screeched and crunched as the Falcon skidded, coming apart violently as it plowed through aliens, crates, clipping a forklift, before finally slamming hard into the wall where it came to a dead stop.

"Ugh, that sucked! Shake it off Spartans! We got to move!" Carter barked after several long seconds.

Six, Jun, and Jorge groaned as they unlocked their armor and climbed out of the wrecked Falcon. "Not the worst Airborne Transport crash I've been in, but it's probably somewhere in the top ten." Six grunted as he checked to see if anything was broken.

"That actually wasn't that bad of a crash. Been in worse." Jorge growled as he scanned his surroundings.

In the meantime, heads we're beginning to poke out from cover. "You alright, sir?" Emile asked.

"Yes we're fine. But we're going to need a lift out of here. Once we get this relay back online, I'll let Colonel Holland know." Carter replied.

Suddenly Jorge yelled "Contact! Contact!" and then opened fired. This was followed in short by Noble Six who confirmed it and opened fire with his MA6.

The few Covenant that had survived had rallied and were now launching an attack. One Elite General and the Brute, a Minor, the Elite was armed with a Particle Beam Carbine and the Brute had a Spike Rifle.

Particle beams and superheated magnetically accelerated spikes lanced toward the Spartans who began to evade the fire and return it in kind. The Brute Minor, given it's weaker shields and being less experienced overall fell victim to the ruthlessly accurate fire from the Spartans without landing a single shot against them.

The General on the other hand proved to be really good. Ducking and strafing like crazy.

Six staggered as several shots splashed across his shields and knocked them down to three-quarters of normal strength and triggered the audible alarm. He threw a fragmentation grenade and then dove behind the forklift to allow his shields to recharge. He glanced right and saw that Jun was in a similar situation.

Six glanced at his shield indicator and saw that it was at full strength. He poked out of cover and opened fire with his MA6 sending shots at the ducking and weaving Elite, which was proving to be an utter bastard to hit. _Hold still you fucking bastard!_ Six thought angrily as his rifle hit empty and he reloaded.

Getting fed up, Jorge suddenly yelled "Grenade out!" and he threw a roughly ovoid object that was beeping quietly. The grenade hit the ground exactly at almost exactly the Elite's hooves. The alien tried to leap away from the grenade only for it to suddenly detonate with a ear-splitting _boom_ and it tossed the Elite General's bloody and shattered remains several meters.

"Clear!" Carter said.

"Clear!" Jorge barked.

"Clear!" Six said.

"Contacts! Two Spirits!" Emile barked as he gestured to the tuning fork shaped craft as they appeared and raced toward the courtyard.

"Kat?" Carter asked as he eyed the dropships.

"I am three-quarters of the way through the locking mechanism, it's being tougher than I thought. Give me thirty seconds and we will be through." Kat replied.

"Great, five Spartans vs. sixty Covenant. Poor odds for them." Emile said in a happy tone.

Jun shouldered his sniper rifle and aimed carefully. Suddenly with a hypervelocity _crack_ a 14.5mm tungsten carbide slug flew out of the barrel, the projectile, complete with plasma sheath around it. Smashed into the Spirit dropship that was in the lead dead center in its cockpit, the moderate armor that was their simply crumbled under the hammering blow, it's velocity only slowed slightly, the shot then proceeded to pulverize the upper torso of the Elite that was flying the Spirit.

The Spirit, now pilotless nosed over and dropped out of the sky and slammed into the ground, the unique design carving two furrows into the ground before the forks snapped and caused the back part of the Spirit to perform a backflip where it promptly exploded.

Jun shifted his aim and fired four more times, the shots all but annihilated the main anti-gravity drive on the portside of the dropship. The Spirit entered a death spiral and plunged out of sight. A loud explosion came ten seconds later.

"Now we're clear." Jun said as he pushed his motion tracker to maximum range and found nothing heading toward them.

"Got it!" Kat said triumphantly as she stood up and opened the door.

"Alright, everybody in. Initiate standard building clearing procedures." Carter ordered after Jorge closed the door and plunged them into total darkness, this may have posed a problem to Marines, Troopers, or other Special Forces but it didn't to the Spartans, their augmented eyes adjusted to the darkness in seconds giving them clarity like a cat.

The Spartans moved out and swept the relay. "We got to find the control room. Emile, I want you covering the door." Carter said and then they split up. Noble Leader, Two, Three, Five, and Six heading deeper into the relay while Noble Four headed back to the main entrance to watch the main entrance.

Noble Team found the control room a moment later, it wasn't hard. Harsh artificial white light was pouring into the hallway. The Spartans burst into the room weapons ready, but to their surprise no Covenant Weapons fire splashed across their shields. Instead their IFFs pinged a friendly IFF nearby and laying on the floor in a small puddle of blood was a middle-aged man.

"Six, search that body." Carter ordered and Six flashed his acknowledgement light.

As Noble Six searched the body, he quickly figured out the cause of death, an Energy Sword through the torso. As he searched he heard a commotion and gave it only a quick glance, Carter had found the source of their friendly IFF, a UNSC Corporal.

However he then paid the following exchange no heed.

"Where's the rest of your unit Corporal?" Carter asked.

"Dead more than likely, we got split … but it sounded really bad on the comms." The Corporal said in a weak voice.

Carter nodded in understanding. "All right, stay put, Corporal, we'll get you to a combat surgeon." He said.

The Corporal nodded in response. "Thank you sir." he said.

That's when Noble Six found something on the body, a data module. Just as Kat let out an exasperated and upset growl of "Goddamnit! Plasma damage!"

"Got something. It's a data module." Six said as he began to look at the thing.

Kat strode over and promptly yanked it out of his hands. "I'll take that Six! It's not your domain." she said bluntly.

"Any idea what's on it Commander?" Six asked in a slightly irked tone. _It also would've been nice Lieutenant Commander if you asked._ Six thought indignantly.

"Not sure, Lieutenant. I'll analyze it when we get back to Firebase Tango." Kat said as she examined it.

That's when suddenly there was another commotion. Someone, from the sounds of it a teenager, female. She was speaking in a distressed tone.

"Got a live one over here! Come on, out you come!" Jorge said as he lifted a teenage girl into view. She was still shouting and started punching the Spartan-II in the chest, albeit ineffectively, barely causing the S-II's energy shields to flare.

"It's alright, we're not going to hurt you!" Jorge said in a trusting tone, one hand holding the left arm of the teenager, his other hand was clasping his M247H HMG.

"Jorge…" Carter started to say.

"I got her boss." Jorge said as he put down his HMG and put both of his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Stop struggling and I'll release you." Jorge said in a comforting tone.

That's when the teenager spoke for the first time in hungarian and it wasn't panicked but instead was in a quiet and terrified tone. "Még... Itt vannak." she whispered.

Jorge stiffened, that's when suddenly on his motion tracker. A red dot appeared … right on top of him. In an instant, time seemed both slow down and race by simultaneously, as he began to react to the sudden threat.

It was something that Jorge's "sister", a fellow SPARTAN-II Kelly-087 had dubbed "SPARTAN Time." Now "SPARTAN Time." occurred when a Spartan reacted to something unexpected happening although it can also happen when a Spartan engages a highly trained adversary in CQC or is in a normal combat situation then an extremely dangerous hazard presents itself and in part due to their augmentations, to be specific the augmentation known as "Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites" which entails the alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. 300% increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity.

These reflexes were what caused "SPARTAN Time." to occur and it was an incredible asset that could save a Spartan's life and it had done so on multiple occasions. Like this instance.

An Elite Field Marshal dropped from the rafters. Carter, Kat, Jun, and Six all yelled "Contact!" as one.

The Field Marshal ignited it's Energy Sword and swung it at Jorge's neck, aiming for a decapitation strike. Jorge moved and lowered his head while at the sametime moving himself to cover the civilian, appearing to seemingly blur to the unaugmented eyes of the civilian. The Energy Sword missed by at most ten centimeters, maybe less and sent a wave of static washing over his HUD. He got the two of them under a slightly elevated platform, where the civilian had been hiding initially.

Time suddenly returned to normal as three Zealots also dropped from the rafters and the Field Marshal growled a challenge and charged at the other four members of Noble Team, Six and Jun opened fire, rounds crashing into the alien's shield and causing it to flare. The Elite lunged at Kat, swinging it's Energy Sword, Carter moved like greased lightning and shoved her out of the way while simultanously ducking and causing the slash to miss.

" _Boss I am hearing gunfire! What's your status?!_ " Emile asked in a startled tone.

"We've been engaged!" Carter shouted as the Elite, seeing a chance to escape, suddenly rushed Six and Jun who were still firing at the Field Marshal which with a incredible and unexpected burst of speed, closed the distance between the backpedalling Spartans in the space of six eyeblinks. The two Spartans who were still firing on the alien had just succeeded in dropping it's shields when they collided, the alien ran right over Six and clotheslined Jun, knocking both Spartans off their feet.

"Bad guy coming out!" Carter yelled as the Zealots pounced. One went for Six and the second went for Jun; while the third Zealot went after Jorge, who by this point had extricated himself from being partially under that elevated walkway and was now standing.

Jun saw the Zealot coming for him as he was coming up to a knee. Moving so fast that to anyone without augmentations it appeared as a blur. He rolled to the left, out of the way of the Zealot's tackle attempt and then sprang to his feet and lunged at the Zealot, ready to plunge his combat knife into the base of the Elite's spinal column.

But the Zealot was ready for him, it backhanded him across the helmet and knocked him to the ground. It would've stabbed him with a lit Energy Dagger had it not been for Kat, who had already recovered from being shoved out of the way from the Energy Sword wielding Field Marshal and had her M6G Magnum ready. The pistol boomed several times in rapid succession, the M225 12.7x40mm SAPHE projectiles caused the alien's shield to flare but they didn't collapse. The alien sheathed it's Energy Dagger and backpedaled grabbing the corporal they had found, while one of its companions appeared and the civilian girl was screaming.

While that chaos with the Zealot that had gone after Jun was occurring, something similar was going on with Six. Who had just overcome his disorientation from unexpectedly getting knocked to the ground, a Zealot suddenly appeared in his field of vision. The monster grabbed him by the neck and ignited an Energy Dagger, the bastard was going to stab him with it, that wouldn't be good for his health. Six lashed out, delivering a powerful cross to the alien's face, causing it's shields to flare in response. The blow stunned the alien, but didn't cause it to reel. The Elite's mandibles spread in what had to be a grin as it prepared to skeer the Beta Company Spartan. Suddenly Carter's foot came out of nowhere and delivered a powerful kick to the alien's torso. The alien's shields flared brightly, but Newton's First Law of Motion then took over, the kinetic energy that Carter's kick delivered transferred to the alien and tossed it right off the Spartan-III.

As the Zealot scrambled to it's feet, Carter opened fire with his DMR. The match grade 8.6x64mm FMJ-AP rounds, crashed against the alien's shields. Who roared in anger and began to backpedal, Carter kicked an MA6 Assault Rifle over to Six who scooped the weapon up. The commander of Noble Team suddenly ceased fire as the Zealot rejoined one of its companions who had grabbed the Corporal that had been in the room and held him like a shield. That's when Six noticed that the civilian girl was screaming in terror.

The Zealot that leaped at Jorge had it's Energy Dagger lit and had it in motion aiming to slash the Spartan-II across the chest. For the second time within forty-five seconds, SPARTAN Time took over.

Jorge rolled out of the way of the slash and then as the Zealot landed, tackled the alien with a heavy _crash_ as 1000-pounds of MJOLNIR Mark V Power Assault Armor collided with an Elite that in it's armor probably weighed about as much as he did in his armor. Still, the tackle knocked the alien right off it's hooves, they slammed into the floor and caused the concrete floor simply crumble under the force of the impact. The Zealot swiped at Jorge's head with the Energy Dagger again, but Jorge grabbed the gauntlet, being mindful of the plasma blade. Then with a violent twist and a warble of pain from the Zealot, he effortlessly broke it's forearm and wrist.

As Jorge began his next maneuver, he heard more gunfire erupt. The alien was now terrified and tried to scramble away from the Spartan-II after delivering a kick that caused Jorge to loose his grip and thus it slipped from his grasp. Then the alien spotted the civilian, it growled and pulled out a plasma pistol which it leveled right at the girl. Jorge moved like a lightning bolt and delivered a powerful overhand punch to the back of the Elite's head. Thanks to the fact that the overhand punch allowed him to put his weight behind the blow, the Zealot's shields flared brilliantly and the kinetic energy behind it transferred to the alien. The alien's knees gave out, but the alien got off a single bolt of plasma which while it missed by meter was still directed at a non-combatant and thus caused her to start screaming in terror.

Jorge decided to end the fight right then and there, he delivered another overhand punch to the alien's skull, this time the shield's flared brightly for an instant before failing and Jorge's fist continued in it's travel and slammed directly into the alien's helmet, which while it could stop AP rounds from an M7 Submachine gun. It _wasn't_ rated to stop an overhand punch from someone who when fully kitted out in their armor weighed a half-ton. The helmet simply crumpled like tin foil under the force from the blow and the distinct sound of bones being pulverised resounded and indigo blood and bits of brain matter erupted from between the cracks that had formed in the alien's helmet from the punch and the alien dropped to the concrete floor with a chest-pounding _thud_.

Jorge then scooped up his HMG and glanced at his motion tracker and turned to the two remaining Zealots. One of whom had the flaring from it's energy shield going out and the other Zealot was holding the wounded corporal they had found as a shield. They couldn't engage in the fuckers!

The two Zealots retreated through the door, heading deeper into the relay. The corporal was screaming and begging for the Spartans to do something. But they couldn't act without exposing the civilian to enemy fire. The corporal tried to hold on to the door jam in an attempt to try and stop from being dragged in with the Zealot, but the Zealot that was grasping him yanked him with them, moments later the corporal's screaming stopped as the Elites undoubtedly killed him.

The civilian was still screaming and the coms crackled. " _That tango blew right by me! Permission to pursue?!_ " Emile asked.

"Negative, Four, stay on that entrance! Two and Three, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole!" Carter ordered and the Spartans leaped to their tasks. Nobles Two and Three went to the panicking civilian while Noble Five and Six headed through the door that the two Zealots had disappeared through, with Six reloading his MA6.

Once the two Spartans assigned to handling the Zealots was through the door. Jorge grabbed a handle and sealed it the sliding, three inch thick steel door behind them with just one hand.

"Damn it, tracker is painting about fifteen contacts. But all of the cover in here is making it tough to acquire a target." Six growled over a private com as he held his MA6 Assault Rifle as the ready as he swept the room looking for targets. He had targets on his motion tracker but getting visual contact in this dark chamber which was filled with lot's of hardcover was making it difficult to acquire targets, even with his enhanced eyesight.

" _Contacts! Switch to night vision, it's easier to spot them._ " Jorge replied as he pulled back and then released the charging handle on his machine gun.

Six chinned a control and the visor switched from normal display to night vision. The filter helped immediately as he spotted a mixed bag of Grunts and Jackals.

Six opened fire, lethally accurate three round bursts leaped from the barrel of his MA6 Assault Rifle. His first burst ripped the arm off a Jackal and caused it to screech and recoil in pain, and revealed its entire body as it did so. This resulted in Six's second burst pulping it's head.

Jorge opened fire a moment later, giving suppressing fire and Six moved forward. Ducking and dodging between bursts of plasma and crystalline needles from the Jackals and Grunts. One of the aliens suddenly opened fire, the weapon emitting a loud _whump_ as it did so. Eyes widening slightly in surprise, Six leaped out of the way of the shot. When it hit the ground there was a thunderous explosion as the fuel rod gun shot detonated, creating two and half meter wide and a half deep crater.

Six then pulled out his second to last M9 HEDP grenade, pulled the pin and tossed it "Frag out!" he growled over the private com he had with Jorge. The grenade hit the ground practically at the feet of the Special Operations Grunts. One of the aliens barked a warning.

A half-second later the grenade exploded and blew most of the Grunts to ribbons and wounded the rest. Six came out from cover and with just a couple of bursts put the surviving Grunts down. Six quickly checked his surroundings and found that the Jackals were dead as well, judging by the wounds, Jorge had given them a machine gun sandwich.

Suddenly a Zealot roared a challenge as came out of cover, firing a Concussion Rifle. Six leaped to the right, avoiding the first set of shots, explosions tore through the room. Tracers from Jorge's machine gun raked across the alien, the powerful 12.7x99mm HEAPI and HEAPI-T rounds quickly stripped the Zealot of its energy shields and then riddled the alien bullets, the explosive properties of the rounds literally destroying the entirety of the creature's spine and back. Amid a tremendous indigo spray the alien collapsed dead.

" _That's one Zealot, now then, where's his friend?_ " Jorge asked.

"I'll find him." Six said as he reloaded and then frowned. "Last magazine." he said as he fed his last magazine into the MA6.

" _Affirmative on last mag._ " Jorge replied calmly.

Six continued to advance and checked his corners. He checked his tracker, nothing. "Alright, come out, come out wherever you are." Six whispered as he continued to sweep the room.

" _Where did that 2nd Zealot go? Zealot's don't have cloaking devices to the best of my knowledge._ " Jorge said as the two Spartans searched the room.

"No, they don't. Where the hell is this fuck?" Six asked.

The two Spartans searched for several more minutes. But they couldn't find the alien, it was as if it had vanished into thin air.

That is until suddenly Six's motion tracker painted a contact, directly on top of him!

The other Zealot roared a battle cry as it lunged at Six, one hand firmly clasping an ignited Energy Sword and the other hand clasping a plasma pistol. The alien shot and swung.

SPARTAN Time took over instantly. Six rolled back, the plasma bursts and the sword swing missed and Six came up in a crouch and opened fire in a full automatic spray. The MA6 emptied the magazine in just a hair over three and half seconds, but at such a close range the vast majority of the rounds hit. When the weapon clicked empty, the Zealot was staggering and in obvious pain from at least a dozen bullet wounds in it's front thanks to it trying to figure out how the hell it had missed. Six without missing a beat then dropped his rifle and his M6G Magnum came up. He sighted the staggering Zealot's chest and pulled the trigger, within two seconds the magazine was empty and the alien was on the ground, missing a good-sized portion of its chest cavity missing thanks to the eight M225 SAPHE 12.7x40mm rounds that Six had just put into it.

" _Holy shit Six._ " Jorge breathed stunned, he had known that SPARTAN-B312 had a rating of Hyper Lethal, but he had just seen Six absolutely annihilate a Zealot in less than fifteen seconds and Elites of the Zealot class were known for their speed and toughness. Unless you sprayed one with an HMG firing HEAPI ammunition, it would often take fifteen seconds just to _down_ the shields because the bastard was moving all over the place.

"Eh, it was nothing." Six replied as he calmly reloaded his Magnum and then scooped up his MA6 and attached it to the magnetic strips on his back.

" _Nothing, my ass. You made that look effortless. It looked impressive that's for sure._ " Jorge said.

"Right." Six said.

" _Contacts have been neutralized Noble Leader._ " Jorge said after a moment, the last of the shock from Six effortlessly killing a Zealot wearing off.

" _Affirmative_ , _Kat needs you to reset Junction AA-23, do it and then get back here._ " Carter said.

Six and Jorge flashed their acknowledgement lights in response.

It took roughly five minutes, but they found the correct junction. Six reset the Junction and then the two Spartans headed back to the control room. When they got their, they found that Kat had a screw driver out and was working on one of the panels for the main console. She removed the panel after the last screw hit the floor and began to work with a large bundle of cables.

In truth the enormity of the situation was starting to sink in. The Covenant had found Reach, which meant that this campaign simply _had_ to be a win. But despite all of that, they hadn't encountered that many Covenant here, it was clear that the amount of Covenant they'd encountered here meant that this area wasn't their landing zone. Instead, this had likely been a heavy recon party judging by the fact that at most the enemy only had been equipped with two grenades and if they had a magazine fed weapon only four or five magazines.

That meant the Covenant Landing Zone had to be elsewhere on Reach. However the question that was going through the heads of all of the Spartans in Noble Team was "Where is the Covenant LZ?" the sooner they could find that enemy LZ, the sooner they'd be able to wipe it out.

Commander Carter approached Kat. "How long?" he inquired.

"If the question is about how long it will take to get this relay back online? At least two weeks, this is plasma damage and the bastards knew exactly what to break. Thus all of the major uplink components are fried." Kat answered tersely.

"Two minutes is too long." Carter said.

"Which is why I am splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct link to Colonel Holland." Kat said, she paused for a moment before stating. "You're in my light Commander." She added in a slightly sour tone.

Carter sighed, Kat wasn't happy that he had decided to fill Thom's spot with SPARTAN-B312. But he hadn't had a choice in the matter, they were a six spartan team after all. Besides, SPARTAN-B312 was a Hyper Lethal Spartan and those didn't exactly grow on trees. But, Carter could also see where Kat was coming from, before his death, Thom had been one of the three original surviving members of Noble Team. Shaking his head, Carter pushed those thoughts out of his head.

The other Spartans of Noble Team, were standing around in poses that would at first glance seem relaxed. But to Carter's trained eyes, those so called relaxed positions also doubled as ready positions. Emile despite the fact that he had his arms crossed, his Kurki was in easy reach. Jun who had his back leaning against a wall and had his arms at ease by his sides, his hands could easily reach the pair of M17 SMGs chambered in 5.56 FMJ-AP caseless with a rate of fire of 15 rounds per second from sixty round magazines, it like the M20 SMG had replaced the M7 SMG but supplemented the former, that were mag clamped to his hips. Jorge was in a similar position to Jun, but within easy reach was his trusty M247H HMG. Finally Six was facing Emile, but held in a relaxed grip was a captured Covenant Plasma Rifle.

Carter then glanced at the civilian who was sitting in a slumped position against a wall, her legs drawn up to her chest.

He turned to Jorge "Find out what she knows." He ordered, gesturing to the civilian.

"Yes sir." The Spartan-II said, he then went over to where the civilian girl was sitting and tapped her shoulder.

In response the girl shoved his hand away and Emile chuckled. Jorge turned his head toward the Spartan-III and despite the polarized face plate, his body language indicated that he was glaring at the younger Spartan.

He then turned his attention back the civilian and crouched in front of her. Then with a subtle _hiss_ , undid the seal around his helmet and then pulled it off. He then looked at her and started speaking in hungarian. "A nevem Jorge." he said.

The civilian girl looked up and replied. "Sára."

"Sára... szép határozott név. Your accent sounds familiar. Sopron?" he complimented.

"Tengeri." Sára replied.

Jorge glanced at the older man who was still lying dead in a puddle of his own blood. "Friend of yours?" he asked in a sympathetic tone.

"Father." Sára answered in a dismal tone.

Jorge blinked in response. He hadn't known his biological father that well, hell he barely had any memory of him due to the fact that he like the rest of the S-IIs were indoctrinated into the UNSCDF at the age of six. The closest thing he had to both a father and a mother had been Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and Doctor Catherine Halsey respectively. Losing either of them, Jorge wasn't sure how he would be able to handle it.

"Sajnálom. I'm sorry." Jorge said in his most empathetic tone.

"Why would you be?" Sára asked.

Jorge again had to think about it. He thought back to the outcome of the augmentations that he and the seventy-five other Spartan-IIs had gone through at the age of fourteen. Thirty of the Spartans had been killed outright by the procedures and another twelve had been crippled and had thus "washed out" of the program, but had remained in the UNSC performing in various roles. But for those years between being indoctrinated and undergoing those augmentations, the seventy-five Spartan-IIs had become a family, seeing each other as brothers and sisters, in both a figurative and literal sense. Figurative because they weren't related by blood but literal because they had during that time gotten to know that very well over the course of eight years, going through education together and military training, particularly military training under Franklin Mendez tended to do that. That bond between all of the S-IIs had strengthened after the augmentation procedures. Still he knew what it was like to lose family.

"Mert tudom, milyen a család elvesztése." Jorge said in a quiet tone and to his surprise Sára had realization dawn in her eyes. Maybe it was because he was a Spartan, but she had to know that he had to have gone through training and thus realized that he may have lost both members of actual family and his military brothers and sisters in arms.

That's when Jorge heard Emile trying to speak to someone in a low voice. Judging by how the Spartans were arranged throughout the room, likely Six. But thanks to his augmented hearing, Jorge could hear a pin drop in a sandstorm. "Big man forgets what he is sometimes." Emile said.

Jorge stood up, strode over to Emile and growled. "She just lost her father."

He then looked over to Carter. "She's going to need a full psychiatric work up." Jorge said.

"She's not the only one." Emile butted in.

"Emile, stop antagonizing Jorge." Jun said in a quiet tone.

Carter looked between both Jorge and Emile while speaking. "Lock it down, both of you! Get her on her feet, the body stays here."

Jorge nodded in response. "Thank you sir." He then walked by Emile casting a harsh glare at him and walked over to where Sára was sitting and held out his hand. The young girl took it and with not even a grunt of exertion pulled her onto to her feet. Jorge then walked over, picked up his HMG and slung it across his back and then walked back to where Sára was standing.

"Let's get you out of here." Jorge whispered before turning to Carter. "Sir, permission to leave the outpost?"

"Granted, but be careful." Carter replied.

Jorge nodded in response and herded Sára out of the control room. Their footsteps slowly fading as they left the outpost.

A moment later, Kat announced in a triumphant tone. "Got a signal! It's patchy but it's their!"

Carter nodded in understanding. Considering their current situation, he would take any comms signal to Colonel Holland, no matter how bad. "Alright, I'll take it. Kat, take the rest of Noble Team and wait outside the outpost." Carter ordered.

"Yessir, also don't touch anything. You'll ground this entire place if you do." Kat said.

"Right." Carter said.

Kat then led the other members of Noble Team out of the control room. Carter then took his helmet off. " _Noble One, I am barely getting you. What's your situation, over?_ " Colonel Holland asked in a worried sounding tone.

"Colonel, this is Noble One. The situation is worse than we thought. There are no rebels, the Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?" Carter said.

" _Come again, Noble One? Did you just say the_ Covenant _?_ " Holland asked in a stunned and worried voice, but one with a slight undertone of hope that he had just misheard.

"Affirmative. It's the WINTER CONTINGENCY." Carter affirmed.

"May god help us all…" Holland said in a low voice filled with dread.

 **0420 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1120 Hours July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **En route to Reach HIGHCOM**

Three D78-TC Pelican Dropships raced toward the 'Reach Pentagon' as it was known to the civilians who lived on the planet at full speed. The Reach Pentagon housed Reach High Command. Each one of the Pelicans bore the exact same paint scheme, olive drab, and were flying in such a pattern that unless you were a Spartan it was nearly impossible to track a single Pelican for very long.

There was a reason behind that madness, sitting inside one of Pelican dropships was Colonel Urban Holland, the commanding officer of SPECWAR/Group Three was heading to Reach HIGHCOM to take part in an extremely important conference. One that would decide the fate of Reach.

This had all started at 0315 hours Reach Time, with Commander Carter-A259 declaring the WINTER CONTINGENCY after NOBLE Team engaged Covenant forces. However thanks to plasma damage to the Visegrád Relay, Reach was going to be on it's own for at least two weeks before they'd be able to call for help through conventional communication means thanks to that damn relay being down. There were other options naturally for ringing the alarm bell, but in terms of cost they were expensive; prohibitively so.

After the shock had worn off, Reach HIGHCOM had scheduled a Planetary Defense meeting. At this meeting was going to be Exo-navy Admirals, Wet-navy Admirals, Army Generals, Marine Generals, Air Force Generals, ONI Spooks, several AIs, and of course himself. That was just the UNSC brass, there was also bound to be several URF brass there as well, plus probably several Imperial Krogan Confederation brass members.

Personally Colonel Holland couldn't believe that the URF had actually made a _peaceful_ **second contact** and when they'd been questioned about it. It had been revealed that the Covenant Empire was a major player on the Galactic Front, which had been rather worrying. However, they had tried to get aid from several of the other alien governments, but with the exception of one they had been afraid to provide aid since the Covenant Empire was basically the eight hundred pound gorilla of the galaxy. The Imperial Krogan Confederation had promised aid in the war, so that was good and it was showing for the Krogan ships pound for pound could face most Covenant ships on about an even footing.

But besides that point, the main reason that Holland was attending was because of the fact that it had been members from his unit that had first encountered the enemy. After pumping both Commander Carter and Corporal Travis for information about their encounters with the Covenant, he _knew_ that on the scale of one to ten. Their Covenant problem was likely at least a ten. This was because the size of the infiltration force encountered was estimated at two companies in strength.

The last time an advanced infiltration force of that scale had been encountered was at Skopje, when a Covenant Supercarrier managed to sneak in system and before it was detected and destroyed in the absolutely hellish action that ensued -the damn thing still managed to take ninety percent of the Skopje Defense Force with it- had inserted via stealthed dropships roughly two companies of infantry plus gave them the resources via a stealthed landing ship enough supplies to hold out until the main fleet arrived.

Still, the similarities between what had happened at Skopje and what was happening here at Reach were disturbingly similar. Far too disturbingly similar. If the source of their problem was indeed what Holland feared it would be, then they were likely right fucked.

" _Sir, we're five minutes out._ " The pilot of Holland's Pelican said.

"Understood." Holland grunted into his bluetooth headset.

Knowing that he had five minutes left before he was going to arrive at Reach HIGHCOM, Holland decided to go over his notes and presentation one last time. Truth be told, he was nervous. The reason he was nervous was because he hadn't been to any of these Planetary Defense conferences and outside of other -far less serious- official events had likely never seen so much brass in one place before.

The pitch of the Pelican's engines changed and the craft descended. With a whirring sound the landing gear deployed and then with a jolt the craft landed. Colonel Holland grabbed his things and then after the loading ramp lowered he hurried into the Reach Pentagon and after traversing a maze of corridors and checkpoints reached his destination, Conference Room A-2349. He swiped his identification card and strode inside.

Like he had been expecting there was a large number of high ranking officers, several of which he recognized instantly. Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, URF Vice Admiral William Hackett, Marine General Sergei Izotov, Army General Henry Montgomery, and Air Force General Karen Lund; however there was several other brass members that he didn't recognize.

"Colonel Holland, good to see that you are still alive." Whitcomb greeted as Holland walked into the conference room.

"It is good to be alive, sir." Holland replied before he sat down.

"General Montgomery, you may begin now." Whitcomb said as the general in an ancient uniform stood up.

"Right, ladies and gentlemen, before we start, some of you may be wondering about the new faces, so let me introduce the following." Montgomery said, "To my left is URF Army General, General Wilhelm Rommel."

"Halo, everyone, I hope we can work together to fight our enemy." The URF general said as he stood up.

"Next to him is, the Reach Defense Fleet Commander, Admiral Frederica Spruance." Montgomery gestured to the officer next to Rommel.

"Greetings everyone." Spruance said as she stood up, saluted and sat down again.

"Not very talkative are you?" Whitcomb commented.

"No, sir." Spruance said as she fixed her glasses, "I just want to get back to business even though I never wanted this day to ever come if I could do anything about it. But what stumps me is that they ignored a dozen other colonies to head straight to Reach."

"Valid point, I will try to help answer that question." Whitcomb said.

"Thank you, sir." Spruance said.

"Now, next is Imperial Krogan Confederation Marine War Master Gorlok Drenak and his rank means he is a four-star general." Montgomery said.

"Thank you for your introduction, general. I must say, I am quite impressed by your fight against the Covenant Empire despite the vast gap in technology." Gorlok said.

"That's tenacity for you, War Master." Izotov said.

"Likewise, commander, this tenacity is what brought the Krogan to come to your aid." Gorlok said before he nodded to Montgomery.

"And lastly Imperial Krogan Confederation Navy War Master Qil Parn which is means he is a fleet admiral" Montgomery concluded as Qil merely nodded in acknowledgement.

"Right, onto business" Whitcomb said, "Does anyone have any idea where the Covenant forces came from? As Spruance has said, they bypassed several colony worlds to arrive at Earth's doorstep."

"To be honest, sir we have no idea, our best bet is one of the Covenant ships secretly followed one of our ships to Reach." Lund suggested.

"Karen that's impossible and you know it! When we retreat from the battlefield even if it's a victory we do enact the Cole Protocol. All ships prior to engaging the Covenant _must_ purge their navigational databases and when retreating or departing a battlefield they don't jump directly toward human held worlds instead they depart on random vectors into slipspace as the Covenant can track slipspace vectors and determine the destination. Plus they couldn't have captured one anyway, again the Cole Protocol is absolutely clear any human ship in danger of being captured by the Covenant _must_ self-destruct in order to totally destroy the shipboard AI and navigational databases, remember." Whitcomb growled.

"Right, dammit!" Lund said, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Admiral Whitcomb, what is this 'Cole Protocol' that you mentioned?" Parn asked.

"The Cole Protocol was written by Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole after he interrogated a Covenant Elite, trying to figure out _why_ the Covenant had declared this war of extermination against humanity. What he found out is that the Covenant see humanity as unclean and that we must be burned away and what he _also_ found out was that the Covenant _didn't_ know how many colony worlds we had or were our homeworld, Earth was located. He realized that secrecy was going to be the best defense against the Covenant. Now Cole the smart bastard that he was thought of everything when it came to writing United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1 better known as the Cole Protocol, including what must occur if a Covenant Warship is captured by human forces under Subsection Seven, which states that a top to bottom search along the ship's entire length must occur in order to make sure that there are no tracking devices aboard that could lead enemy forces to additional human worlds."

"Well now, I suggest that we stop arguing about how they found Reach and focus on the real question, how to deal with the forces on Reach." Montgomery said.

"Well, as of right now, we can defeat them but the issue is what is to stop them from trying this again." Izotov said.

"Well the only way I see it is to make it so they don't know that they attacked Reach and making look like Reach was another colony." Rommel suggested.

"How are you going to disguise a planet from being what it is?" Drenak asked.

"It is called deception. We will make the Covenant Forces believe they assaulted a random colony. This will work for a while but they will get wise of our deception." Rommel said.

"Are you sure that will work?" Parn asked, "I mean they will surely think something is up."

"Well lucky for us, the Covies can be quite stupid." Izotov said, "I have seen many times Covenant troops and commanders being fooled by decoys and illusions laid by our soldiers."

"So what are you proposing, General?" Whitcomb asked.

"What I am proposing is that we make sure the Covenant doesn't realize that they have forces on Reach by making them think that Reach is not Reach." Rommel said, "And we can reinforce this by first not mentioning Reach in reports and also keep back for a bit, just so that we can give off that illusion."

"I agree with Rommel, Admiral if we keep the Covies guessing, they themselves will be unsure about the planet they are attacking however we do run the risk of them continue their attack on Reach anyway." Montgomery said.

"Well I will have take your word for it," Whitcomb said, "Spruance, plug the hole as soon as possible and have the transport ships carrying the reinforcements to hold off from Reach until further notice."

"Aye-aye, sir." Spruance said.

"Parn, exactly what is the size of the fleet that Krogan is going to send? This was something not mentioned in the briefing for this meeting." Whitcomb turned to Parn, "I would like to know because I have three of those new _Atlantis_ class Dreadnoughts and their battle-groups the UNSC _Yamato_ , UNSC _Atlantis_ , and UNSC _Bellerophon_ that are currently on patrol, but we can recall them and have them here within two to three weeks if we use the slipspace COM probe launcher that's here on Reach. The budget guys will want to barbeque me considering how expensive it is to use the damn things, but right now we need more ships here at Reach. As it stands, we're likely going to have some ships return from Sigma Octanus IV to Reach for repairs or going right back into service. Spruance, how many ships do we got in the RDF right now?" Whitcomb asked.

Spruance looked thoughtful for a minute. "We currently have ninety-four ships in the RDF at the moment. Naturally we got the _Trafalgar_ and her battlegroup, plus we got two _Ares_ class Heavy Battleships, a _Vindication_ class Light Battleship, twelve _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruisers, an _Epoch_ class Heavy Carrier, plus eight of the old _Halcyon_ class Light Cruisers, although one of those ships the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_ is currently sitting in space dock with ONI doing God only knows what to her, plus the normal mixed bag of Destroyers, although we got four of those new _Iroquois_ class ships from what I heard they kicked ass and took names at Sigma Octanus IV, Heavy Frigates, Light Frigates, Destroyer Leaders, and Corvettes. So we're currently looking okay in that department, plus as you know we got forty Orbital Defense Platforms and several HORNET Nuclear Minefields. From orbit we're going to be one hell of a tough nut to crack."

"Well if you want to know what the URF has in the area, we got one of our new _Kilimanjaro_ class battleship groups and two heavy cruiser squadrons. They will arrive in a fortnight. As for stuff that's in-system at the moment, we got four Cruiser squadrons, three light and one heavy plus two destroyer squadrons and three frigate squadrons." Hackett said.

"Well for the Imperial Krogan Navy, we are sending are two battlecruisers with their escorts, they'll arrive by August 10th as for stuff in-system we don't have much. Just one Carrier attack cluster and one Cruiser battle cluster, considering that a Carrier attack cluster generally has one medium carrier, two escort carriers, plus four heavy cruisers, seven light cruisers, and twelve destroyers it's okay but not great. Now the Cruiser Battle Cluster is the equal to a Cruiser squadron, this one has three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and twelve frigates."

"That's a considerable force." Hackett commented.

"Indeed it is, now I know that we got the majority of 4th and 41st armies plus the 3rd, 7th, 15th, 21st, and 35th Marine Expeditionary Forces here as well as other assets. Still, War Master Drenak what forces can you bring to the table?" Rommel asked.

"Not much, only the 68th Marine Motorized Rifle Corps, they got Tomkahs, fast and heavily armored and armed with either a 155mm mass driver cannon or a 175mm Ion Cannon and that's just the standard version, we also got SPAAG and SPG variants which are armed with dual pulse gatling lasers and a 250mm mass driver cannon respectively." Drenak said.

"Still an additional corps, one that is fast and mobile as well. Could be very helpful, particularly if we need to hit them with hit and run strikes. From what I am wagering the Tomkah is basically a combination between an IFV and a Tank, probably explains why you don't have any tanks of your own." Rommel said, looking thoughtful. "Could come very much in handy."

"In the meantime let's give the mobilization order. I want allied forces throughout Eposz mobilized. The Covenant have likely chosen an area that's sparsely populated, remote, and not patrolled often by friendly forces to set up their landing zone. The question is where?" Whitcomb said.

"Comrade Admiral, I would most likely pick somewhere in the Viery Territory for a landing zone. I would recommend deploying our forces in that general area." Izotov said.

"But we don't want to raise alarm among the general public. Let's do it quietly or even do a partial mobilization but bring the units that aren't mobilized to maximum combat readiness and ready to scramble on a moment's notice." Rommel said.

"Agreed, let's mobilize the 41st Army, 3rd MEF, 7th MEF, and 21st MEF, plus the 68th Marine Motorized Rifle Corps. Now that I think about it, let's attach the 68th Marine Motorized Rifle Corps to the 41st Army, that way we can cut the number of forward operating bases that we need to activate down." Montgomery said.

"Well, meeting adjourned then for now." Lund said as everyone stood up.

 **0445 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1145 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Military Reservation 01478-A**

 **Sergeant Minna's POV**

At first when the alert came in, I didn't think much of it. Mainly because I thought it was a joke, albeit one that was going to result in someone's head rolling, I mean why would WINTER CONTINGENCY of all things be declared on _Reach_? But then I read it over, any hope that it was a joke died when I read the line:

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

Those five words shattered any and all hope. It was true then the Covenant was on Reach, which meant this just became a Campaign that they had to win no matter the cost. If they failed, then humanity was toast.

Minna stormed out of her office and almost immediately ran into a frantic looking Heyliger. "Assemble your squad! We're deploying!" He snapped.

"Where too?" I asked.

"At the moment it appears we are deploying to Forward Operating Base Gamma in the Viery Territory near Szurdok Ridge. If anything is there we will likely be ones sent in to deal with it." Heyliger said.

"Right." I nodded.

"Sergeant, listen carefully, when we get there, I want your squad to stick with me, your squad is my command squad however but that said, you will need to be ready to take up position on the line as I will tell you that we will be losing soldiers and I wouldn't be surprised if we will be cut thin." Heyliger said.

"Yes sir." I replied.

"Now, this I what I need you to remember just in case, I am unable to command." Heyliger said. This took me by surprise that the lieutenant was thinking of him being unable to fight.

"Sir?" I asked

"Sorry, but this is just as backup." Heyliger assured, "Now I want first, second and third platoon on the line, fourth platoon, will be in reserve and they will need to be ready to plug the gaps. And if the Covies do break through the lines, well I want you to fall back to wherever is deemed safe. From that point on, it is up to you."

"Sir, are you sure, I can lead the company if you become unable?" I asked, unsure of my commanding capabilities which strange given what I did before but now was different and I wasn't sure if I could command again.

"Sergeant, I have seen how you led your squad, you are a capable leader and I know you are one." Heyliger patted my shoulder. "Now let's get started, sergeant, we have a planet to hold."

"Yes sir." I said.

"Now get your squad assembled, and get locked and loaded." Heyliger said.

"Sir yes sir!" I saluted him to which he replied and dismissed. I then looked for Mio and the rest but luckily for me, Mio was just nearby.

"Minna." Mio said as I stumbled into her, "What are our orders?"

"Assemble the squad at the armory and have them lock and load, we have a fight coming." I said.

"Yes sergeant." Mio said before she ran to find the squad while I headed for the armory.

When I arrived inside the armory, I found that I wasn't the only one, the vast majority of the platoon was already their and suiting up for deployment, mainly donning the undersuit and then with the help of a team of technicians donning their armor. I went to my locker, put in the passcode and opened it. I was greeted to the sight of the undersuit of the Wolverine Powered Combat Exoskeleton I had been issued, that's when it sank in.

I was no longer a member of the air force nor a member of an elite unit either. Instead I was in the Army and just a typical grunt at that, hell our chances of survival wasn't great and having watched combat footage of previous encounters I knew that if we met anything like a Hunter Pair and didn't have any rockets on hand we were all dead, the same was likely true if we encountered Special Operations or Stealth Elites or you know Brute War Chieftains. But despite that, we had to do our duty, still to say that I was thrilled at the prospect was a lie mainly because the odds weren't in our favor to be frank if my squad suffered losses I wouldn't be surprised.

Still as I calmly changed out of my fatigues and donned the undersuit, I realized that there was a very good chance that most of my squad wasn't coming back from this alive. Once the undersuit was on, I went to one of the armor stations, gave my locker number and serial number. Then the armor suit was called up, it's dusty tan paint still had a dull sheen with at least twenty or so scratches from training, it was hard to believe that just last year I was a witch of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing but now I was a Army Trooper in the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_.

The undersuit covered the body from ankles up, but it didn't cover the hands or feet, plus the front part of the suit ended just below the chin while the back went up to the base of the skull and covered the neural lace there allowing for me to use the armor. The first part of the armor that was donned was the reactor hump piece and chest piece, they were secured by bolts. After this the shoulder armor came on again secured by bolts. This was followed by the lower torso piece as well as lower back, unlike the top piece however, these armor pieces snapped together and were secured by powerful magnets but there was roughly a three inch gap between lower torso piece and the upper torso piece if we were facing Innies it wouldn't be a problem because the undersuit is rated for .308 AP rounds from close range but against plasma I didn't like it also integrated into this armor piece was a eight pouches for storing magazines, grenades, etc. Next came the armor for the arms, the forearms were fully armored while the triceps and elbow was fully protected by armor plates, but the biceps weren't they only had a small armor plate covering them and it didn't extend all the way to the elbow again I didn't like it. Next part that came on was the equipment belt which contained more pouches for equipment and items. Next came the thigh pieces they didn't cover all the way to the hips or knees but they did cover a large portion of the thigh. Then came the knee pieces and they did cover the entire front of the knee plus a little of the back. After that came the shins which were fully armored.

Now with the vast majority of the armor donned, I stepped into the two boots and winced as they were tightened with bolts and secured to the armor and then handed two gloves that had small armor plates covering the top and bottom of the hand as well as the top and bottom of the fingers, it snapped to the wrist armor and formed a perfect seal just like with the boots.

"Here you go ma'am!" a tech said, handing me my helmet.

"Thanks." I said before heading to the various weapon racks. I decide that I'll go with a MA5B Assault Rifle with an tactical flashlight and laser range finder/sight/illuminator, a M6G PDWS, a fighting knife, a utility knife, a bayonet, plus several fragmentation and concussion grenades and ammunition.

I also grabbed a personal trauma kit, and a backpack which was designed to fit seamlessly with the upper back plating of the armor, I put a box of MREs -disgusting things-, a GPS, a second personal trauma kit -for if I took a penetrating hit that didn't kill me and a medic couldn't get to me-, a map, a compass, some extra ammunition and grenades, and a datapad into the pack. I then headed to the vehicle farm. As I headed in that direction, I setup a rally point for my squad; already engines were starting to turn over.

Mio was the first to arrive, my XO was armed similar to me as well as outfitted, but her MA5B had a Masterkey for it's underbarrel instead of a tactical flashlight but she'd kept the laser rangefinder/sight/illuminator. "Nervous?" I asked.

"You have no idea how much so!" Mio said out loud before whispering in my ear. "The jitters for this are worse than were for Operation: Mars." she said.

I nodded, that was likely true with how bad jitters were. It wasn't even funny.

At that moment Francesca and Shirley came up, but their weapons couldn't have been more different. Francesca was carrying M38 Assault Shotgun, which was based on a MA5B frame and chambered in 8-gauge with a slug barrel and used thirty-two round magazines plus could go full automatic the weapon also had an underbarrel tactical flashlight, I also saw that she was carrying an M17 SMG, a new model of SMG that was chambered in .223 caseless, on her thigh and a M6G PDW on her hip. She was also carrying a pack as well.

Shirley on the other hand was carrying a massive M420 Micro-rotary gun, six barrels, chambered in .308, with a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute. Unsurprisingly she also had a massive pack attached to her back that held nothing but ammunition, for her secondary she had gone for an M6G PDW.

"Jesus Yeager, you compensating for something?" Mio deadpanned.

Shirley laughed. "Let's not start, but well you know what they say "speak softly and carry a big stick"." she hefted her rotary gun. "How's _that_ for a big stick?" she asked.

Everyone laughed. "Yeah, can't really beat a Micro Rotary Gun unless you got a railgun or a rocket launcher." I said with a laugh.

Moments later Yoshika came trotting up, she too was carrying a pack but it was likely filled with medical supplies, her shoulder pauldrons had the red cross of a medic painted onto them, in her hands was a MA5B-K, but she had forgone any underbarrel attachments and had just gone for laser rangefinder/laser sight/illuminator and, I blinked, a red dot sight. Since Yoshika was a medic and plus knowing her, she likely wasn't carrying anywhere near as much ammunition as the rest of us were. While mag clamped to her thigh was a M6G PDW.

That's when Lynnette and Perrine trotted up. Lynnette had a BR55HB SR, chambered in 10.5x40mm, firing from thirty-six round clips, for attachments she didn't have any under barrel attachments but had gone for a 3x scope. Mag clamped to her thigh she also had an M17 SMG instead of M6 PDW.

Perrine however was carrying an MA5B with an underslung grenade launcher, side mounted laser sight/illuminator, and a holographic sight. Mag clamped to her thigh was a M6G PDW and … I blinked for the second time in as many minutes, Perrine was carrying a heavy weapons pack, which allowed for a third weapon to be holstered in addition to carrying additional ammunition, medical supplies, food, etc poking out from that holster was the butt of a ARC-920 railgun.

A moment later, Eila and Sanya appeared and just like Francesca and Shirley their weapons couldn't have been more different.

Eila was carrying an M739 SAW, the SAW had a holographic sight as well as a bipod that was currently folded against the bottom of the weapon and a M17 SMG, plus the usual assortment of other kit and a backpack with extra ammo, grenades, etc.

Sanya however was carrying an MA5B-K with only a underbarrelled flashlight and a heavy weapons pack, in the holster so to speak was an M41 Jackhammer Launcher, plus an M6G PDW.

"We ready to go?" I asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, man some Hogs and let's get ready to roll." I said and then we entered the tank farm and quickly selected some Warthogs and piled into them.

The Covenant was on Reach and it was time to go to war.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Alright here are another chapter of the Fall of Reach.**

 **Note the underlined text represents in-vehicle comms, even Warthogs have them because well that engine is a fire-breathing monster, plus unless you want to damage your vocal cords by yelling over the wind created by going fifty or sixty miles per hour plus the roar of the engine, this makes sense.**

 **Anything to add General?**

 **General: Times will be hard for the defenders.**

* * *

 _I will never forget the pain that lanced across my chest when I took a plasma bolt for the first time. My platoon was in the process of storming a Covenant Forward Command Post during the Assault on (or Massacre at) Szurdok Ridge, I saw a flash of blue, which meant it was a Plasma Rifle probably, and then an energy bolt caught me right in the chest, below the sternum. The armor defeated the energy bolt but some of the kinetic force and heat still got past the gel layer. Thus the hit totally winded me, caused me to stagger, and it felt like I just got a really bad sunburn in an instant, like the sort of sunburn that causes the skin to blister and peel. I dove behind cover and a split second later another energy bolt streaked over me, from the looks of it, the shot had been intended for my head. I got lucky, little did I know how often "luck" was going to save my life on Reach._

An excerpt from "Memories of Reach" by Yoshika Miyafuji, published 2578

* * *

 **0525 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calender)**

 **1225 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **20th Infantry Division** _ **Friuli**_ **Deployment**

 **Following Corpsman Miyafuji**

Yoshika was now completely certain now that she had driven the Warthog that she could probably drive just about anything back home. Mainly because the Warthog could be an utter bitch to control, its penchant for wanting to rollover if you took a corner too fast didn't help matters. That being said, she was one of the better drivers among the members of her squad, it baffled her to no end considering that she hadn't even driven before, but at least she was better at it than Sergeant Wilcke was. She shuddered at what happened that had made the squad decide that Minna wasn't going to be a 'Hog driver, it had resulted with an M12 flipped over in a ditch and all three occupants injured in some manner.

That being said, she also had to admit this thing made the Liberion Willys Jeeps as well the Federation Humvees and the Platt's Gaz Tigr look absolutely pathetic in terms of just about everything. With maybe the exception in protection in the case of the Federation and Platt vehicles, but it could get in, really ruin someone's day in an awful hurry, and then get out while everyone else was wondering what had just happened. Then of course there was the range and the wide variety of weapons it could mount.

That's when Minna asked her a question that Yoshika realized that she should've seen coming. "You nervous?" she asked.

Yoshika kept her gaze centered on the Warthog in front of her. "To be honest ma'am. I am not nervous I am scared shitless, the fact that the enemy has goddamned ray guns and we don't doesn't help, nor does the fact that our armor can't really stand up to stuff like that." she said numbly.

"Truth be told, I am worried and scared for those under my command as well as the fact that if Lieutenant Heyliger kicks the bucket that I am first in succession for the platoon and their lives then fall under _my_ command. What will I be able to do if that happens?" Minna said glumly.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. But let's hope that nevers happens to begin with, but considering how tough it is fighting the Covenant on the ground expect it to happen." Yoshika admitted.

"Great, that's just great. Absolutely fantastic!" Minna said sarcastically.

"But it's true, Sergeant you must realize that it's entirely likely that we may not survive doing battle with the Covenant." Yoshika replied shaking her head.

"Getting pretty morbid there Corpsman." Minna replied raising an eyebrow.

"Damn Yoshika, when did you become pessimistic?" Eila asked from her position on the powerful M46 LAAG mounted on the back of the Hog.

"It's called being a realist. Even with the "B" model of the Wolverine, it's not going to be easy. Plus well, I am sure you understand that I am not optimistic about the armor being able to take multiple hits from plasma bolts. You saw just how _heavily_ scarred Amirah was." Yoshika said shaking her head.

"You are right about that, I remember when we first met her, she was worse for wear." Minna recalled their re-encounter with the Malay witch.

"Yeah… Now that you mention it, she did look like shit." Eila answered.

"Yes and what makes it worse is that Amirah is far more suited for infantry combat than we are and she looks like that?" Yoshika shook her head, "I don't fancy our chances, Sergeant."

"You are right." Minna said as she let the corpsman's words sink in, "Good god, we are in deep shit, aren't we?"

"Perhaps, we will never know as Amirah tells me that in this kind of war, almost everything outside your control is uncertain. So there is a chance we all make it out even if it is highly unlikely, there is still a chance." Yoshika said.

"That's too many uncertainties, Yoshika." Eila said, "I don't like that at all."

"Well that is warfare for you, Eila." Minna said, "Anything can go wrong and knowing how things are, something will."

"Is it like what happened to Pierson and his platoon?" Eila said, "They were just stationed next to us during our first us and they got the shit kicked out of them. I heard only Pierson's squad survived with a couple of guys from the second squad in second platoon."

"A squad and a half actually." Yoshika said, "I had to help with patching up the savable, the others, we ended their suffering."

"Damn Yoshika, you really sure like to be morbid." Minna observed.

"I don't know but perhaps talking to Amirah is causing her attitude to rub on to me." Yoshika shrugged, "And as a medic, you see a lot of sorry sights."

"Yeah" Minna said, "That said, Pierson hasn't been the same since."

"Who wouldn't?" Yoshika asked, "I could really use a smoke right now."

"When did you smoke?" Eila asked as Yoshika took a e-cigarette from the dashboard and took a swig before letting the water vapour out.

"Well, if anything we will have to get ready for the coming battle." Minna said.

"Right." Eila said as she looked through the sights LAAG she was manning. _Wait, Yoshika didn't answer my question_.

"Yes Sergeant." Yoshika replied absentmindedly.

* * *

 **Strike Witches Universe**

 **0350 Hours, November 12th, 1944**

 **Somewhere between Luna and Mars, Sol System**

The first ship that was racing toward the safety Asteroid Belt that was between the planets Mars and Jupiter was painted in the distinctive silvery-black of the Ysterplaat Imperial Republic Navy.

It was of decent size, five hundred sixty meters long, three hundred sixty meters wide, and two hundred meters tall at most. It's hull was shaped roughly like a rectangular prism. The engine cluster was unique itself, it could be best described as an Isosceles trapezoidal Prism that was on it's side, within that trapezoidal Prism were two main propulsion thrusters and four secondary propulsion thrusters.

Yet there was a good reason why this ship was running, it was the Prison Ship _Aylus_ , carrying a load of Allied Prisoners of War to a distant POW camp in another system, when she had been intercepted and they had been roughly four hours out from Mars and thirty minutes beyond that the asteroid belt.

Then her pursuer appeared, it was massive and blocky, with a broad hammerhead shaped bow, a thick and decently broad rectangular prism shaped neck, and an absolutely massive stern, a roughly cylindrical section on the craft's spine contained four absolutely massive main propulsion thrusters, while two rather rectangular prism shaped wings flanked either side of the massive engines and contained four smaller secondary propulsion thrusters, the wings were tipped with what appeared to be triangular prism shaped objects. The massive Star Cruiser was seventeen hundred and sixty meters long, eight hundred thirty meters wide, and some four-hundred meters tall. She was painted in a two-tone paint scheme, the ship was predominantly Ghost White along the bow and aft wings, with the neck, main engine cluster, and bridge area being painted Charcoal.

The ship was the Poselentsy Federation _Infinitum_ class Light Battleship _Zenith_ ; and she were closing in steadily on the _Aylus_. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to outrun her chaser, the Plaat Prison Ship diverted power from her engines and into her limited weapon arrays and significant shield systems. The ship promptly opened fire, angry red streamers of plasma-laser energy lashed away from three of the nine rapid-cycle energy cannons that she was armed with.

The shots arched through the void and crashed harmlessly against the _Zenith's_ shields, barely putting enough energy into them to make them visible, instead flashes appeared, not quite touching the _Zenith_ as the shots crashed into the energy barriers and released their energy.

The _Zenith_ then retaliated with her secondary and tertiary energy weapon arrays. Blazingly brilliant Proton beams forty-six and twenty-five centimeters across flashed through space and set the _Alyus_ 's shields afire as energy carved into the defenses. Shaking the Prison Ship violently, but the tiny vessel replied immediately. This time however, the angry red energy fire was all focused on a single pinpoint on the _Zenith_ , this resulted in the Federation shields flaring as the energy impacted.

The two ships traded fire for several minutes, but the _Alyus_ stood no chance the matchup was just too one-sided. However, unlike the _Zenith_ though, the _Alyus_ had one advantage. While the _Zenith_ could perform an intrasystem jump, it usually took a couple of minutes to plot so the ship wouldn't slam into some celestial body at high-velocity, because of the fact that her FTL, like all Federation FTL's was a realspace FTL.

Plaat ships on the other hand used something drastically different, it was called a Void Drive and it was about as fast as Federation FTLs but it was also safer than using FTL but it appeared as if you were travelling in a void, hence the name. But it came at a cost, the drive required a _lot_ of power, so much so that ship's weapons had to be brought offline.

The _Aylus_ increased in speed dramatically and her weapons went silent. Realizing what that meant, the _Zenith_ ceased firing with her secondary and tertiary energy weapon arrays and her main energy weapon arrays powered up, motes of brilliant sapphire blue light collected within the maws of gun tubes that absolutely _dwarfed_ the main guns on the _Yamato_ class Super Dreadnought as enormous turrets began tracking the relatively diminutive prison ship.

Then they opened fire, brilliant Proton beams that were one hundred-fifty centimeters across flashed into existence. The first set of twelve beams missed but in the next salvo of lethal energy was partially on target, three of the massive beams connected with the _Aylus_ and the shielding flared a brilliant bluish-gold as it struggled to repel the massive the energy that the Proton beams unleashed and the small prison ship shuddered like she'd been smacked by an angry god.

In a desperate attempt to buy enough time for the drive charging sequence to complete, the _Aylus_ launched ECM decoys and flares in an attempt to spoof the _Zenith_ 's targeting systems. By some miracle it worked, the next salvo of beams that sliced away from the _Zenith_ and streaked toward the _Aylus_ out of the twelve shots that lanced forth, only one beam hit.

That singular beam however proved to be too much for the over-taxed shield system of the _Aylus_ and the shield system collapsed. Not that it mattered though, for the void drive was fully charged. The space in front of the ship wavered as if it was in a great heat and then a greenish-orange lined, swirling blue portal erupted into life and the Plaat Prison Ship raced for it, knowing that it was their salvation.

The _Zenith_ fired one last angry salvo from both her primary, secondary, _and_ tertiary arrays at the fleeing vessel but the _Aylus_ slipped into the portal and it winked shut, a moment later over twenty blazing blue proton beams carved through space that the _Aylus_ had just been occupying.

But unknown to the captain of the _Zenith_ , the _Aylus_ had just left frying pan and had just FTL'd into the fire.

* * *

 **0425 Hours, November 12th, 2551 (Military Calendar)**

 **0425 Hours, November 12th, 1944 (Local Calendar)**

 **Near the inner-system edge of Sol's Asteroid Belt**

 **Onboard the UNSC** _ **Valiant**_ **class Command Cruiser UNSC** _ **Everest**_ **CC-2**

Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole had gone through a lot in life. Hell, everything had been _so_ simple before the Battle of Psi Serpentis in what seemed like a lifetime ago. To be fair, considering all of the crap that had happened. It _had_ been a lifetime ago.

His plan to escape the micronova of Viperidae that he had caused, by hitting the Gas Giant with one hundred _Shiva_ class Thermonuclear Missiles had been rather brilliant. After the last nuclear missile had been launched, he ordered that they go into slipspace. Problem was, the micronova had played utter hell with slipspace that and the damage that the _Everest_ had suffered during battle it resulted in the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine suffering a malfunction and it had sent them hurtling into some place that Grom, the ship's AIhad guessed was some sort of dimensional nexus due to all of the portals that had been opening and closing at will.

The problem that occurred next however was that the portal home had closed almost immediately after the _Everest_ had cleared it. When he had seen a portal displaying Earth, he ordered that they make for that one. Which had gotten them stuck into this mess, mainly because they hadn't left slipspace or whatever it had been in the Sol system circa 2543, but according to Grom, in the year _1936_. The fact that the shape of Earth's continents was off well it was a signal to him that they weren't in the universe that they knew. Which had left him with one hell of a dilemma, either help with this Earth or see to those his command. For him, it was obvious thus they had somehow managed to set up what equaled roughly a small city on Mars, because of it's closeness to Earth and the fact that it allowed for easy access to the asteroid field and thus resources, while still allowing for observation of "home" so to speak.

Over the course of the eight years between their arrival and now had been interesting, over the course of that time, several other ships had the exact same thing happen to them. The ships that it had happened too however was an old and tough as old boots _Halcyon_ class Light Cruiser the UNSC _Dawn Under Heaven_ C-710, the sleek and modern _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser UNSC _Hood_ CA-62, an extremely battered _Orion_ class Assault Carrier the UNSC _Orion_ -granted she'd been shot to hell so unlike the _Hood_ it wasn't bad luck but battle damage with a similar case for _Dawn Under Heaven_ -, a URF Tender the _Elbe_ , and even a couple of smaller United Rebel Front ships, three four hundred fifty meter long _Fletcher_ class Destroyers and two three hundred sixty meter long _Khabarovsk_ class Frigates, although the URF warships was a recently new addition having appeared roughly two months ago shortly after an absolutely incredible fight that happened in orbit of Earth.

It was an okay group, but against any sort of fleet they wouldn't stand a chance. Particularly against the hostiles that were here. Although, he was extremely grateful that fate had deposited that URF Fleet Tender into their laps, it had happened shortly after the _Orion_ had arrived some six years ago. Both the _Orion_ and the _Dawn Under Heaven_ had suffered extremely heavy damage in combat and the _Everest_ hadn't been looking so great either in terms of shape as well as fuel.

As stood though, he was thinking about whether or not he should show these aliens, the red ones at least who was the boss as they had observed them through makeshift spy satellites made from Clarion Spy Drones. The blue ones didn't seem that bad, although he would trust them about as far as he could throw an M41 LAAG, which considering he was eighty years old and an Admiral, well he could probably spit farther. That said, though there were times when he would want to make contact with them because it could mean stuff like a full naval yard, but he wasn't willing too even though he knew it had to do with his encounters with the Covenant.

That being said, whenever he could, he would always send teams to salvage computers and the like from destroyed ships. End result, they had quite a bit for star charts and a bit of a war book, but it wasn't really worth heading out. Besides he had sworn an oath to protect Earth and her colonies. It was an oath he fully wished to fulfill but the problem was he had almost no places to repair battle damage, hell most of the major repairs were really jury-rigged things and thus wouldn't hold up in a pitched battle. But considering how things were starting to degrade on Earth, he knew that soon he would have to intervene otherwise they could lose. The reason that he hadn't intervened despite the fact that he had sworn an oath "To protect and defend Earth and all of her colonies." was simple, he had to maintain the safety of his men and women, the UNSC _Hood_ alone had a crew complement of 5,000 with a Marine complement of 3,000.

"Admiral, slipspace rupture!" One of the twenty-four bridge officers shouted.

 _Well, seems like today won't be boring after all._ Cole thought, ending his internal monologue. "Bring us to Combat Alert Alpha, arm all available Archer missile pods, warm up the secondaries and the MACs, increase engine power to forty percent, scramble the Alert Five, and prepare a boarding party!" He barked, for all he knew it could be a Covenant ship.

Instantly alarms started wailing and the thunder of boots on Titanium-C rang through the halls and on ladders as the crew ran to their action stations, while in the meantime the reactors unleashed a hearty rumble that was felt in your bones as they increased their power output.

Then Cole got a good look at the portal and quickly came to one conclusion. "That's no slipspace rupture! It's something different!" He barked as he made the comparison to this rupture to the thousands of other slipspace ruptures that he had seen in his life. Most slipspace ruptures tended to look like a purple-green bruise spreading across space, but not this one. This one instead had a greenish-orange liner of sorts while the center was a swirling vortex of blue energy.

Then a rather small ship slipped out of the portal. It's silvery-black hull and red accents instantly gave away who it was. It was one of _those_ bastards, Cole noted. In an instant he called up the war book of all known Ysterplaat Imperial Republic ships and flicked through the various holographic representations until he found what he was looking for, the holographic representation of one their prison ships.

So, it was going to be like that then. "Khang?" Cole said.

"Yessir?" The ship's "dumb" AI asked.

"Transmit a message to that bastard. Tell them that they have two minutes to cut their engines, kill their momentum, power down their weapons, and prepare to be boarded and that if they don't comply then we will disable them and initiate a boarding action." Cole ordered.

"Yessir, composing message and transmitting via morse code, tight-beam, and across all radio frequencies." Khang replied.

 _Your move._ Cole thought as he looked at the enemy ship.

* * *

 **Onboard the** _ **Aylus**_

 **Tracking … located Soldat de première classe Victoria Chabert**

 **Early November 1944**

To say that Victoria was scared was an incredible understatement. Here she was being taken only God knew where and the ride instead of being pleasant was anything but. The ship, at least she assumed it _was_ a ship was making all sorts of strange sounds. Then the harsh white lights had gone out being replaced with a dull red illumination.

She had been born in 1925 in the city of Le Mans and had joined the Gallian Army in 1938 and had become a tank witch, using at the time, brand new SOMUA S35 Strikers. During the Fall of Galia, nearly her entire unit was wiped out and she had gotten cornered in an alley in Dunkirk and was forced to surrender.

Victoria had been captured at the start of the war in 1940 and was one of the few witches that hadn't been taken away to be experimented on or who knows what else. To the best of her knowledge there was perhaps six or seven at most ten other witches onboard the ship, to her knowledge the Neuroi preferred to execute witches on sight at least that's what the newer prisoners were saying, although there were a few cases of them being taken as POWs but it was only if they were cornered and had no chance for escape.

A new sound started up, this one sounded like an alarm of some sort. The sound of boots on metal sang through the air as Neuroi Enforcers, the guardsmen of the POW camps and evidently their POW transports moved to new stations, taking up positions in good cover. The decking beneath her bare feet rumbled and a series of muted _whuds_ rang through the hull.

Then whatever the Neuroi ship was shooting at retaliated. The deck bucked angrily and the ship lurched to one side so violently that everyone was thrown in the same direction, Victoria's vision exploded into a field of stars as her head slammed into the side of the cell that she and about five other guys were in. A new alarm wailed, it's tone sharp and quick it's urgency. At the sametime the dull red lighting snapped out existence and was almost instantly replaced with lighting from small electric lights that didn't illuminate much.

But whoever was pounding the ship now wasn't done yet, the Neuroi prison ship had just begun coming to an even keel when the ship quaked violently and a scream of tortured metal rending and tearing rang through the air.

A few _whuds_ rang through the hull, probably a weapon of some sort. Moments later the ship shook violently and the decking and bulkhead _fluttered_ as whatever was bombarding them hit them yet again. That flutter got her attention mainly because those were _solid fucking metal_.

"What the fuck is shooting at us?" Someone asked.

"Shaddup!" An Enforcer snarled, slamming it's rifle butt against the bars of the cell with a sharp _bang_.

"Jesus, I am just asking what's going on?" The man, a Liberion from the sound of it replied.

"We're in combat, but I am not sure who we are fighting. But from the sounds of it, the main reactor has been shut down, as have the secondary reactors, which means we are just on backup battery power. I wouldn't be surprised if the weapon array is smashed, but if the enemy wanted us dead. We would already be dead, no doubt about it." An Enforcer said, pulling his rifle off his back. The rifle was a blocky thing, with a flattish rectangular prism style receiver and the barrel was a smaller rectangular prism that had been put on it's edge. Just forward of the trigger assembly was a heavy box shaped magazine.

Victoria hated those rifles, they weren't a threat to witches with their shields. But the thing would easily screw over your day, if a shot from that thing nailed you in the chest you were pretty much a goner. Of course, the Enforcers were different from the regular Troopers in that they had a baton that could knock you out easily.

An intercom crackled. " _All hands, sensors show incoming enemy dropships. Standby to repel any and all boarders._ "

"Oh boy. This is gonna suck!" An Enforcer grumbled.

"Why?" Victoria asked.

"Because city fighting ain't got _shit_ on fighting in a corridor like this. The only thing that can possibly compare is tunnel fighting. The weapons fire and explosions from grenades will be absolutely deafening, any explosives used are practically guaranteed to kill combatants. Bottomline, hug the far wall and pray." An Enforcer snarled.

Suddenly a new sound rang through the air and it was absolutely _terrifying_ it was as if the world's largest buzzsaw had just started. Soon after that the distinct _hiss-crack_ of Neuroi rifles began to duel with a thundering _thud thud thud_ of automatic weapons fire.

Wait, automatic weapons? Who the hell was boarding the ship then?!

As it stood though, the sounds of combat began to get louder and louder as the hostile boarding parties pushed there way deeper into the ship. Victoria watched as the Enforcers got into defensive positions and trained their weapons on the door that led into the cell block.

"We got boarders heading this way, cut the lights. Standby to repel." An Enforcer said and the cell block was dropped into pitch blackness as the few emergency lights were cut out.

A few agonizingly long minutes later, the sounds of combat which was louder than ever suddenly went quiet. Then a muted _thunk_ rang through the compartment. "Enemy breaching charge!" Another Enforcer yelled.

The four Enforcers closest to the door began to scramble back when suddenly the hatchway _exploded_ inward with absolutely tremendous force. The door itself shattering and hurling pieces of the thing down the hallway, the force of the explosion throwing two of the Enforcers that were scrambling away several meters and causing the other two to stumble and fall. Then several objects were thrown in through the now open door, they were roughly cylindrical and about the size of a VB Rifle Grenade. They hit the floor bounced a couple of times and then the world turned into a brilliant white and thunder, the world spun violently. As the light faded, Victoria caught a glimpse of a six man squad charging into the room, weapons blazing, tracers flew through the air and not a single Neuroi Enforcer managed to return fire.

The whole thing from start to finish in terms of those men breaching the room and clearing it had probably taken fifteen seconds, maybe.

Slowly Victoria's hearing and vision returned, still the world was spinning. Although considering everything that was happening, she was just trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Someone get the lights on in here!" A new voice, it didn't _sound_ like any accent she had ever heard before. Maybe from eastern India? But she wasn't sure.

"Who the hell are you guys?!" Someone, judging by the accent, Karslandian barked.

"I am Master Sergeant Idris Zain of 51st Marine Regiment attached to the United Nations Space Command Defense Force Ship _Everest_. Our job is to get you guys out of those cells and back to the _Everest_." One man said in a strange accent.

"What the fuck is the United Nations Space Command Defense Force? I've never heard of it before." The Karlslandian snapped.

"It's an overly long and complicated story that will probably be best explained by Vice Admiral Cole." Zain said.

"Plus, I've never heard of a ship named the _Everest_ , what the hell is she?" A fellow Gallian asked.

"She's a _Valiant_ class Command Cruiser, armed with two Heavy coil MAC guns, fourteen 20.3cm Mark 55 Hellfire Railgun Batteries with each mount having two guns each, fifty 50mm MLA point-defense guns, seventy-five 35mm MLA CIWS mounts, one-hundred thirty five Oversized Fusion Archer Missile Pods, plus over a hundred nuclear missiles! She's big too coming in at 1,518 meters in length, 373 meters wide, and is 450 meters tall. But alas, that's her firepower when she's at full capacity, which it hasn't been at for a long time." Sergeant Zain said.

"What's going to happen to us?" Someone asked, before Victoria realized she had done so.

"Well, you'll get medical attention, properly fed, and then we will figure what to do next. As it stands, while it may not look like it we are short a large number of hands. So knowing the Admiral, he'll likely have you remain in your various militaries but you'll likely be put into various support roles." Sergeant Zain said.

"Found the lights!" A voice with a Azteca accent said.

"Good turn them on! Everyone else, kill your night vision!" Zain barked.

Brilliant and harsh artificial white light bathed the area and almost everyone recoiled, save the soldiers recoiled as the unadapted eyes were exposed to light that was far too bright.

"Well shit, I thought fighting the Covenant was weird. But I guess this alternate universe is even more whacked than ours." A voice, female wait female, said.

Victoria blinked and rubbed her eyes. She was finally able to get a good look at the men and apparently woman who managed to free them from this hell. What she saw surprised her greatly, the soldiers in front of her were clad in powerful looking armor, the fatigues appeared to be fabric and had a dull matte black finish, while the extensive armor plating that covered the torso, arms, and legs as well as the majority of the helmet were painted in what appeared to be Liberion Olive Drab. The armor looked like it could take a 20mm cannon shell to it's chest plate and survive while maintaining protection to the wearer.

"Shit, where can I get kit like _that_." Someone muttered quietly.

"What's next." Someone, a Farawaylander growled.

One of the soldiers, began tapping away at something on the wall. "First, getting you guys out of these cells and then to the Pelicans. After that, well probably medical attention. That is if I can figure out how to open this bastard." The marine who was tapping away on the panel said before he swore vividly. "ARGH! I CAN'T FUCKING FIGURE OUT HOW TO OPEN THIS FUCKER! TIME FOR MY FUCKING ANSWER!" He roared with a Liberion accent.

"Three … two … one." A marine with an Ostmark accent said in an amused tone.

The Marine with the Liberion accent snapped up his weapon, released the clip, cycled the round in the chamber out, then put said round back in the magazine, that magazine then went into a pouch on his armor, then out came a new magazine, which was slotted into the weapon, the charging handle was raked and a distinctive sound rang through the compartment. "EAT THIS YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!"

Then the M38 Combat Shotgun discharged its 8-gauge, 75-gram deer slug straight into the lock. The lock simply absorbed the shell with ease, which resulted in five more slugs getting blasted into the lock at which point the thing failed.

"There problem solved!" The Liberion Marine said with probably a cocky grin.

"Liberions and their guns." Victoria grunted.

"HEY! This bad boy has saved my life more times than I can count. So shut it!" The marine snapped.

"Shut up Dunn." Sergeant Zain hissed.

"Yessir!" Dunn said sheepishly.

* * *

 **0445 Hours, November 12th, 2551 (Military Calendar)**

 **0445, November 12th, 1944 (Local Calendar)**

 **Near the inner-system edge of Sol's Asteroid Belt**

 **Onboard the** _ **Valiant**_ **class Command Cruiser UNSC** _ **Everest**_ **CC-2**

Admiral Cole looked at the helpless enemy Prison ship frowning. They had been cornered by a true warship. Given a chance to surrender and the enemy CO had basically told them in an extremely disinterested tone to go away and when they hadn't budged the ship had opened fire on them with some sort of combination plasma/laser weapon. The shots had missed meaning that they probably had a malfunction in targeting or since she was a prison ship the gunners probably sucked.

Retaliatory fire from the _Everest_ 's secondary guns had smashed the enemy gun emplacements and severed the connections between the drive cones for the main engines and the reactors effectively preventing them from being able to escape. But then the hostile CO had done a maneuver that had colored Cole impressed, using the ship's dorsal and ventral thrusters he had rolled the ship and brought his remaining weapons to bear and had fired the ship's remaining weapons that could bear on the _Everest_ and succeeded in scoring a glancing blow on the Command Cruiser.

Of course, the retaliatory fire from that glancing blow had been brutal. A salvo of weapons fire had effectively silenced the enemy guns. After that Cole had deployed several Pelican Dropships with Marines onboard to secure the craft. The fighting for the most part was over surprisingly fast, apparently most of the actual soldiers onboard had been in the landing bay that the Pelicans had landed in, hiding behind dropships and deployable cover made of thick pieces of metal and they had been in a formation obviously designed to break the back of boarding party using dropships.

But the dropships that they were used to weren't as heavily armed as the Pelican Dropship apparently, because the 70mm APIT/HEI belt that was standard on Pelicans had just torn the deployable cover apart and shredded the dropships. But then again, the M370 Autocannon that the Pelicans used could chew through a M318 Elephant with extreme ease and they would make mincemeat of even Covenant Reaper medium dropships and those things were notorious for being tough.

Either way, the few troops that had survived the systematic sweeps that the Pelicans had given the hanger were simply too stunned to put up much of a resistance against the UNSC Marines that had then boiled out of the dropships. After that, the majority of the defense forces were just prison guards basically and were eager but excessively so and had no-experience or probably even training in combat and thus had been routed by UNSC ground forces.

Suddenly with a flicker of movement, a massive ship suddenly materialized. It's bow brought to mind that of a Hammerhead Shark, the ship had a predatory vibe to it. But the way it excluded that vibe was drastically different to that of Covenant Warships, those things gave out a _natural_ predatory vibe, but instead it was all about her capabilities.

"Comms, get the _Hood_ and _Dawn Under Heaven_ here quick and open a comms link to that thing. Helm, bring us around and get our bow pointed at that thing. Weps keep the MACs, secondaries, and Archers hot, warm-up point-defense network, and remove the safeties from one of our HAVOKs, we may need them." Cole ordered. He hoped that he wouldn't have to use the nukes, mainly because while the _Everest_ had no more _Shiva_ -class Thermonuclear missiles onboard, she did have about a six HAVOK-V thermonuclear tipped missiles and about twenty Fury nukes left. While each HAVOK had about a fifty-megaton yield the Fury nukes had up to a 15-megaton thermonuclear yield. Trouble was that well, they were in extremely short supply.

The bridge crews leapt to their tasks, under his feet the _Everest_ rumbled and she swung from roughly the unknown with fifty degrees on the portside on the bow, to bringing her bow directly at it. Unmasking the ship's two 1170mm Heavy-Coil MAC guns, each capable of firing a 200-ton slug at incredible velocities, of course that would be a deterrent to anything. Not to mention, it gave the enemy a much smaller target.

"Admiral, we're being hailed." The comm officer said.

"Open a channel, audio only." Cole ordered.

"Channel open, sir." The comm officer said.

"Attention unknown vessel, this is Admiral Cole of the United Nations Space Command Defense Forces Ship _Everest_ , identify yourself." Admiral Cole barked with thundering authority that could only be achieved by being an Admiral for over thirty years.

The reply that came was in English, but it was stilted and extremely rough around the edges indicating that it wasn't the speaker's native language. " _United Nations Space Command Defense Forces Ship_ Everest, _this is the Polstenny Federation Light Battleship_ Zenith _. Would mind explaining what the hell you are doing?_ "

Cole had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. "I thought it was obvious, we're liberating the prison ship." he said.

" _That was supposed to be our job, Admiral. Now if you would please pull back your forces and let us handle it._ " The CO on the _Zenith_ said.

" _Zenith_ , your intentions are good. But think of it this way, the POWs on that ship for the most part have been fighting xenos and have been captured by xenos and treated cruelly as POWs by them as well. Don't you think it will be a little much to rescued by aliens? Because so far their experience with aliens has been nothing but bad, alright just let us handle this." Cole said bluntly.

" _You bring up valid points, I will grant you that. But the one question I have to ask is why the hell are you all the way out here?_ _Near the asteroid belt?_ " The CO of the _Zenith_ asked.

"Reason for that is simple enough. One can find lot's of ores and minerals like titanium and platinum in an asteroid belt. Plus we prefer the simple fact that it's rather quiet out here and relatively easy to defend, with the prefect fallback location. You get into that asteroid belt and start running dark, it'll be damn near impossible to find someone." Cole said.

" _I can't help but agree. Just expect to see a delegation at some point, not sure when though._ " The CO of the _Zenith_ said and the massive ship slowly turned away and then with a massive flash from her engines, the ship was gone.

That left Cole thinking of how he was going to do this, mainly because of how many former POWs they had liberated. Still, at the very least they had managed to stop a POW ship from going who knew where. Regardless, like it or not they were now involved in this war. However Cole, just like the rest of the various men and women in the UNSC had sworn an oath to "Protect and defend Earth and all of her colonies". By extension that had also extended to the URF ships now apparently after they had allied. So it was time to stop mucking around with getting their basic colony on Mars established.

"Ops," Cole growled.

"Sir?" The bridge officer turned in his chair to face the admiral.

"Put together a list of targets based on the information that we pull from that POW ship's computers and compose a list of ones that would be in order from easiest to hardest to hit and formulate a couple of basic battle plans for the top five, I want both the list and the plans on my desk by the end of the week." Cole said.

"Yes sir! Right away, sir!" Ops replied before waiting for the relevant data to come in so he could begin his work.

* * *

 **Halo Universe**

 **0935 Hours, July 24th 2552 (Reach Calender)**

 **1635 Hours, July 24th 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **20th Infantry Division** _ **Friuli**_ **Deployment**

 **PFC Francesca Lucchini**

Francesca wasn't really sure what to think. So much had happened within the past year she wasn't sure if this was all some surreal trip. But she wasn't entirely sure if that was the case either, mainly because she still had nightmares about Fumirole. The thunderous booming and clanking of those Covenant walkers, the mind-numbing thrumming roar of their main cannons, the sharp booming bark of UNSC infantry weapons, the whoosh of rockets flinging themselves out of their tubes, the near constant explosions, the screams.

She shook herself and focused on the road in-front of them, being on the back of the M12 Warthog manning the extremely powerful M68 Gauss Cannon that this particular Warthog was equipped with, she actually had the best view out of the three-man crew in the 'Hog'.

Still she was scared, her previous memories from dealing with the aliens back home. Sure some of those memories were bad, but none of them compared to Fumirole. Those had left an impression on her, one that she would probably never forget, you just couldn't compare fighting the Neuroi or Ysterplaat or whatever the fuck they were called to fighting the Covenant. Sure, the foes back home were terrifying to face, but if you kept your wits about you and fought smart then you would come home in one piece. Not so against the Covenant, for they would punish you severely for just _one_ mistake. That was when the radio in her helmet went off.

" _This is Tucker to Kittycat, can you hear me?_ " Francesca heard the message and she internally groaned as she hated that callsign she got. It wasn't her fault that she yelped like a cat when Stiles from 3rd Squad tripped right behind her, it was made worst that Sergeant Hartman heard that and called her Kittycat for that and it stuck ever since. At this point she wished that her old callsign "Nappy" had actually stuck, it was far less embarrassing.

"This is Kittycat to Tucker, I can hear you" Francesca replied, "What do you need from me?"

" _I just got something to ask you, you're Italian right?_ " Tucker asked. Francesca raised an eyebrow at this.

"I am of Italian descent but why is it important?" Francesca asked.

" _Well I was curious why is it that all your pasta all end with the letter 'i' like spaghetti and macaroni?_ " Tucker asked. That question threw Francesca for a loop as she was now trying to decide whether this was a joke or not.

"Are you serious?" Francesca asked, "Why the hell are you asking me this question?"

" _Well I thought you knew seeing you are Italian and all._ " Tucker said.

"Just because I am Italian doesn't mean I know everything Italian damn it!" Francesca barked, "Seriously it is like asking Eila why Finnish don't like standing so close to each other."

" _That's a good question, do you know why they do that?_ " Tucker asked.

"Coglione! Do I look like I am Finnish to you?" Francesca barked.

" _Well I ask you because your eyes look like they have a wealth of knowledge._ " Tucker answered.

"What did you say?" Francesca asked in confusion.

" _I am just saying that you got cute eyes._ " Tucker commented.

"Oh… Thanks I guess." Francesca replied in confusion, trying to figure out what Tucker was getting at.

" _Say Francesca, what do you plan on doing after all of this?_ " Tucker asked.

"After what?" Francesca responded.

" _I mean after everything, after the war, you know when we make it out I mean if we make it out._ " Tucker asked.

"That's a hard one to answer," Francesca said, "Well if we do make it out of the war, I probably go look for a job and if I am lucky start my own family."

" _Huh, what are the odds?_ " Tucker said, " _I had the same idea._ "

"I think that idea is almost universal, Tucker." Francesca said. Francesca had a fleeting idea that Tucker was flirting with her.

" _Private Tucker! I better hope that you are not flirting with Kittycat._ " came the voice of Sergeant Sarge on the radio.

" _No Sergeant, just chatting Sergeant._ " Tucker replied with haste.

" _I do better hope so._ " Sergeant Sarge radioed.

" _Yes sergeant._ " Tucker said.

"So my gut was right, you were flirting with me." Francesca said.

" _Eh?!_ " Tucker panicked, " _No-No! It was just friendly banter! Nothing more! Honest!_ "

"Is that so?" Francesca simply answered, "What do you think Sarge."

" _Ah fuck…_ " Tucker uttered

" _You are not getting off that easy, Tucker, you will be taking night watch._ " came the voice of the Sarge onto the radio.

" _Aw come on, Sarge, why do I get night-watch?_ " Tucker groaned to which Francesca started snickering.

" _Oh you want more work? Alright, you just got KP duty added to your list of duties._ " Sarge said to which Francesca just started laughing.

" _Aw come on!_ " Tucker barked in a disagreeing tone.

" _Do you want more?_ " Sarge threatened.

" _No sergeant…_ " Tucker said defeatedly.

" _I do hope there is not a repeat of this private or I will take action._ " Minna chirped in, " _That is if_ before _my squad gets their hands on you._ "

" _Yes Sergeant._ " Tucker replied after gulping audibly over the comms and probably paling as well.

" _Serves you right, Tucker._ " Church piped in.

" _Oh shut up, Church! You are not better, you got eyes on Supergirl._ " Tucker barked. However neither Church nor Shirley reacted in anger.

"So… Church" Shirley stated flatly, "Do you want to tell him or should I?"

" _Tell me what?_ " Tucker asked.

"Wait what?" Francesca uttered in surprise.

" _I will tell them._ " Church said, " _Shirley and I are an item, we had been one for a few months now._ "

" _Are you fucking kidding me?_ " Tucker exclaimed.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Francesca asked to her driver.

"I am sorry but I didn't know how you would react." Shirley replied, eyes still on the road.

"This is unexpected." Sanya simply said as she looked over to Shirley.

"Shirley, I been your friend since we were kids." Francesca said, "Of course I would be happy for you and besides, Church is a good pick."

"Thanks, that got some weight off my mind." Shirley admitted.

"I like Church, he is good man." Sanya said.

" _Wait, Church and Supergirl are in love? When did that happen?_ " Caboose suddenly ask, once realizing what was being said.

" _Goddamnit Caboose, I already said it that Shirley and I had been a couple since April last year._ " Church said, " _How the hell did you not noticed?_ "

" _Really? Never did notice._ " Caboose replied.

" _Well that explains why you don't sit with us as much as before now_." Eila said on the comms.

" _Alright, cut the chatter already._ " Heyliger intervened, " _If you got nothing to talk about, don't. Comms aren't for chit-chat._ "

" _Yessir._ " Everyone grumbled in dismay.

Francesca glanced at the clock on her HUD and sighed. They had at least four and half more hours before they arrived at Forward Operating Base Alpha, which was located near Szurdok Ridge. It was going to be a long day and night, that was for sure. It actually left her wondering why the hell they hadn't used dropships to get to the FOB, but then again considering that stuff like Pods which were usually used for transporting Divisions around were in short supply and that it would require a ludicrous number of Pelicans and Albatrosses to move an entire division from one place to another. But given how uncommon Pods were and that they were almost always assigned to assault ships, it made some sense.

Still four and half more hours at least, till they got to where they were going. Given the sort of shenanigans that her squad and third squad usually got up too. Well, something told her that it was going to be a _long_ four and half hours.

Of course, about an hour later. They got an even bigger surprise and that they weren't expecting for as the Hogs, IFVs, and MBTs of the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_ rounded a corner in the foothills leading to the Highland Mountains, they stumbled upon a unit that they'd heard about via scuttlebutt or via a Division wide transmission from the division CO, but had never seen in person: The Krogan 68th Marine Motorized Rifle Corps.

The massive vehicles of the 68th, the Tomkahs were monstrous beasts. They had six wheels and were ridiculously tall, easily being as tall as the M313 Elephant, were probably about as long as one too, but appeared to be only about as wide a Scorpion MBT. Towards the back on top of the vehicle was a heavy turret mounting a rather threatening looking weapon, or it had a lighter weight looking turret with what appeared to be dual-quad barrelled rotary guns. A few however seemed to have the majority of the hull behind the cockpit removed for something like a bed and there was an exceptionally heavy looking turret with an equally massive, if somewhat short cannon.

As soon as the Krogan spotted the 20th Infantry Division, they wasted no time in starting up their vehicles. Which unlike the Makos, Cougars, Warthogs, Grizzlies, Rhinos, Lions, and Kodiaks; their engines didn't rumble, growl, or whine instead they _thundered_ on start up, growled while idling, and _roared_ like Godzilla when the gas pedal was pressed. The tremendous fusillade of noise that was generated by the vehicles as they slowly rumbled into motion and began to merge with the convoy was absolutely incredible.

Francesca gazed at the monstrous vehicles, simply awed by the size, sound, speed, and simplicity of the vehicles as they slowly but methodically accelerated up to their maximum top speed. A speed which was far faster than anything that was supposed to be that quick, that being said it was interesting. Not to mention more than a little intimidating, mainly because they were keeping pace with the convoy which was doing a nice and relatively sedate fifty-five miles per hour so they wouldn't leave the Kodiaks in the dust. But the fact that they could reach that speed was damned impressive.

"Holy shit, this thing is huge!" Shirley whistled, "How tall do you think it is?"

"I don't know I think it is six feet at least." Francesca guessed.

"Franny, I asked the whole thing not the tires." Shirley replied

" _Merde, what is_ that _?_ " Perrine came on the radio.

" _That is an AFV, Private Rock._ " Eila pointed out the obvious.

" _I know that!_ " Perrine barked, " _I mean what is it exactly? It doesn't look like any AFV I've seen before._ "

" _Well why don't you ask Minna?_ " Eila suggested.

"Damn it Sauna, you sure love throwing work to someone else." Shirley commented.

" _I don't know._ " Francesca could see Eila shrugging a few vehicles in front of her.

" _So does anyone have any idea what this thing is?_ " Mio joined the conversation.

" _Don't know but it is huge though._ " Caboose replied.

" _I think it has been already established that it is huge, Caboose._ " Sarge said.

" _Well… according to this, this a Tomkah which is an infantry support vehicle._ " Minna said as she checked her datapad.

"Infantry _support vehicle? Ain't this a bit much?_ " Yoshika asked.

" _Hot damn! If this their infantry support, I want to know how big their tanks are._ " Tucker exclaimed.

" _I might not be an armoured fighting vehicle expert but why is it so big? Won't it attract attention?_ " Yoshika asked.

" _Don't worry about this thing, it got armour all around to the point it can shrug off all but the heaviest anti-vehicle the Covenant can throw at it._ " Minna answered.

"Wow, that much of armour?" Francesca asked, "Isn't that a bit excessive though?"

"It is all or nothing, Francesca." Shirley said, "That's the name of the game nowadays."

" _Okay then why is it so damn tall?_ " Perrine asked.

" _Well that is most likely due to it being designed with Urban Combat so it can get over rubble and debris easily._ " Minna answered.

"Okay, then why is it doing here where we will be in open ground."

" _Ah great, big brass fucked us over again._ " Tucker grumbled.

" _Eh? Vat are you talking about Tucker?_ " A corporal from Second Squad asked. Francesca recognized the voice, it was Blitzen or some called him Aryan, the only German in the company and he had a very deep accent with the addition of his blonde hair and blue eyes.

" _I mean remember that fight with those ODST guys, they never told us about those damn Locusts._ " Tucker barked.

" _Calm down Private Tucker, remember Scarabs are not easy to take down even if they are alone, the simulations proved that, throw supporting vehicles and infantry into the mix, and it is damn near impossible._ " Heyliger reminded.

"Right and Fumirole proved to us that Scarabs are nearly unstoppable when they have support. Still here's to hoping that everything goes better this time around mainly because there is a hell of a lot more at stake here." Francesca said in a blunt and matter of fact tone.

It was true, they had to win. For if they failed, then the end of humanity was all but assured to occur. This was likely going to be the most important campaign of the war and one that humanity _had to win_.

" _Agreed on that Kitty. Thing is, we don't know how big the Covenant landing force is or where it even_ is _. If we are going to have a chance at winning this thing, we got to find the source. Otherwise we're right fucked if the Covenant breakout before we discover their landing position._ " Corporal Butch Flowers said.

" _Tricky part is going to be finding their landing zone. But once we find it, it'll be a snap to squash the landing zone. We'll show these dastardly alien bastards that they made a mistake in finding Reach. For we'll show them what we can do!_ " Sarge said.

"With the amount of firepower we can bring to the field. Damn right it'll be a cinch. Hell, we'll probably finish in time for us to have some well deserved R&R by Labor Day." Shirley remarked.

"Agreed, all of the men who are stationed on Reach, the Covenant will have to send something really big in order to take it. It's probably some poor idiot who doesn't know what they have discovered." Sanya said with a smile.

Now that was a fact. Reach was one of humanity's first colony worlds outside of Sol system. It was in essence the heart of the UNSC and served as a massive industrial, military, and economic hub, considering that at any given time there was at least _eighty_ UNSC warships in-system and that Reach was only a twelve-hour shot from Sol meaning that it would be very easy to get reinforcements. Hopefully.

Nevertheless, the sooner that they defeated the aliens. The better off that they would be mainly because the damage that infrastructure would sustain would be lower, which meant that the production of vehicles and weapons could continue somewhat unabated.

Not only that, well for many in the 20th Infantry Division _Friuli_ it was easy to consider Reach either their home away from home or in the case of Francesca, the members of her squad, as well as numerous others however Reach wasn't a home away from home, it was instead their homeworld, the place where they were either born or considered the planet their home.

* * *

 **AN: And that's a wrap. Now I bet you have some questions, particularly as to Admiral Cole being alive, that's very simple. When a Slipspace Drive suffers a malfunction we only know of two types of malfunctions the Slip Termination Preventable or as human freighter captains called it "Screwing The Pooch" and the sort where it teleports a good portion of the ship into oblivion. The drive violates the laws of physics to access another dimensional plane, whose to say that when a SFTE malfunctions that it could send a ship into a place where dimensions meet? We just don't know enough about the SFTE and what it's malfunctions are.**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: This chapter will be very different, mainly because it's a flashback. Just over three months before the Battle of Jericho VII and is the first ever battle that Erica and Gertrude have against the Covenant. Although it's from Erica's POV.**

 **Anything, to add General?**

 **General: Time for these nuggets to be real fighter jocks.**

* * *

 **0650 Hours, February 10th, 2625 (Military Calendar)**

 **Endurance Tower, New Alexandria**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

It had been seventy-one years, eleven months, and eight days since the official end of The Great War on March 3rd, 2553. But in all actuality the war had ended on December 11th 2552, with the final defeat of the Covenant Empire and that had been seventy-two years two months ago. However, tomorrow was going to be the saddest day in the history of humanity, it was the Centennial Anniversary of the start of The Great War. Hard to believe it had been one hundred goddamned years since the start of the most costly and deadliest war in the history of humanity.

For retired United Nations Space Command Defense Forces Captain Amirah Aisyah Sulaiman however, she was amazed that she was still alive. Having survived the Neuroi, the Covenant, a few scattered battles against Insurrectionists, and a single encounter with a highly infectious and parasitic alien species that had caused her more nightmares than the battles against the Neuroi, the Covenant, and the Insurrectionists _combined_. However, she was entering the twilight of her life, mainly because she was one hundred and sixteen years old having been born in this universe on November 27th, 2508 according to her doctor she had probably about thirty years left at most but said that it's likely closer to ten years because her old injuries were acting up. To be frank, she was surprised that she had lived this long with everything that had tried to kill her during the Human-Covenant War: Grunts, Buggers, Jackals, Skirmishers, Elites, Brutes, Hunters, Sharquoi, Infection Forms, Combat Forms, Carrier Forms, Ranged Forms, Tank Forms, and Stalker Forms. They had all tried to kill her and out of all of them, the first and only ever Sharquoi she had ever encountered had come the closest to killing her.

She sighed as she stared out the window of her apartment on the 120th Floor of the four kilometer tall Endurance Tower in the rebuilt city of New Alexandria. Her hair had long since faded to mostly white with only a few hints of grey in it. She didn't care that she was approaching the end of her life, after twenty-four years of hell and nearly constant nightmares during and after said hell had been challenging to deal with. The fact that soon it would be over was in a way nice.

She heard footsteps coming up behind her, despite her life coming to its end. Her hearing and vision was still top notch. She turned in her chair toward the source of the noise and saw Erica walking toward her, despite the fact that it had been years since the highest scoring ace in the history of mankind had gotten into the cockpit of an Aerospace Fighter but despite that her wits and reflexes were still incredibly sharp.

"When do we have to leave to head to the Noble Memorial Centre?" Amirah asked as Erica sat down.

"We agreed on 1300 hours, we got to leave by 1100 hours, maybe 1130 hours if we push it. What got you up this early?" Erica said as Amirah closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"I had a nightmare about the Flood Infestation at Voi. I don't know how they managed to keep that under wraps for sixty odd years. But I am grateful that they went public, it certainly helped with my PTSD of that situation. The ones about Voi are always the worst, now I know why after Halo what caused Yoshika's big spike in nightmares; it also gives a chilling explanation about the scar on her neck." Amirah said with a shiver.

Erica pondered that for a moment, unconsciously rubbing the base of her skull where her pilot neural lace was for a moment. "It does now that I think about it. From what I recall thanks to battle damage that she had suffered over Reach, the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_ had two of her three Wolverine suit up rooms destroyed, which meant that they had to break out the old M-53 BDUs, don't know why those old pieces of junk were kept in service, they aren't even powered armor. I mean, they had been updated to a degree to improve protection against Plasma, but they were still bad. Regardless, that does explain why they were using such outdated stuff in the holovids that weren't classified all to hell." she said shaking her head.

"I heard that the majority of the stuff about the Halo rings was recently declassified. Maybe we can finally get a proper story about what actually happened on Installation 04 from Yoshika and Chips." Amirah replied with a small smile, but that was tinged with melancholy. It had been at least five years since she had seen the two, they had married after the Human-Covenant War and hadn't looked back, just like herself and Erica had after the end of the war.

Erica gained a similar look as well. "Hard to believe that even counting you and me, the only other members who are still alive are Yoshika and Lynnette. Five were killed during the war and the intervening years between then and now afterward slowly claimed the others. It's been difficult getting used to that fact." she said.

Amirah sighed deeply. "Doesn't change the fact that a mistake that _I_ made resulted in getting close friend killed. Thanks to me getting that close friend killed it got me rattled thus it caused me to screw-up later and nearly get myself killed. I never forgave myself for getting a member of the 501st JFW killed and it severely damaged my friendship with Minna." she spat.

Erica realized that Amirah was going to need some cheering up and soon otherwise she was going to get depressed again. "Did I ever tell you about my first battle against the Covenant?" she asked.

"No, you didn't. How did it go?" Amirah asked.

Erica laughed heartily. "It didn't go well. I got four kills during the battle, but nearly got killed several times before I was forced to eject. It was all thanks to one _Seraph_ driver that knew his stuff."

"I am betting that it was The Red Bastard wasn't it?" Amirah asked.

Erica gave Amirah a slightly mischievous grin and nod. "Yep, although this was before he earned the nickname The Red Bastard. We were considered equals and to a degree it's true but the fact of the matter is, he was always more experienced than I was to a degree particularly during the first few clashes we had." she said.

"I can imagine. Now that I think of it, I don't think you ever told me this one." Amirah said.

"Now that you mention, I never have. We got some time though. Oh what the hell, guess I'll tell you the story while it's on my mind." Erica said and Amirah began to give Erica rapt attention.

"It was November 5th, 2534 a few minutes after 1140 hours when I came around from Cryo-stasis." Erica said as she began her tale.

* * *

 **1145 Hours November 5th, 2534 (Military Calendar)**

 **In Slipspace enroute to the Futer System**

 **Onboard the UNSC** _ **Yuri Gagarin**_ **CV-570**

Battle Group India flowed through slipspace, seventypowerful UNSC Warships were racing toward the Futer System, the only quaternary star system that had been colonized in the entirety of UNSC space, it was home to just over fifty-thousand people and it was about to come under attack from the Covenant. The Battle Group was composed of twenty-four frigates, thirty-six destroyers, four _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruisers, two _Atlas_ class Carriers, two _Ares_ class Heavy Battleships, and a single _Valiant_ class Command Cruiser. Also flowing through Slipspace despite not being attached to the unit to take part in combat was three _Phoenix_ class Assault Ships.

Onboard the UNSC _Yuri Gagarin_ , inside Cryo Bay Three the wake-up cycle was beginning, nearly four hundred Cryo-chambers where in this compartment and under the guidance of the ship's "Smart" AI, they were all beginning to wake-up. It was a slow and carefully regulated process but if need be a quick thaw could be given, but that would always result in additional discomfort and sleepiness when compared to normal wake-up procedure. Another interesting fact was that unlike the previous century where occupants of Cryo-chambers had to go into the freezer naked in order to avoid getting very raw, blistered, and sensitive skin as known as Freezer burn, they could either go in naked or wear specially designed clothing, which while one would still get Freezer burn and a little bit of Cryo-itch, it would be bearable.

It was subtle at first, the pods slowly began to reach point where the seal would automatically pop and the occupant would wake-up coughing in order to clear the Bronchial Surfactant that accumulated in the user's throat during Cryosleep and it was intended to replace some of the nutrients and other vital bodily fluids that were lost during Cryo-sleep, by being regurgitated and then swallowed upon reawakening.

It was this Bronchial Surfactant that Erica absolutely _hated_ with a passion, mainly because the moment your senses came about as you were still groggily waking up, the fucking gag reflex kicked in and you were coughing violently trying to get the fucking stuff out of your throat. Thus here she was, on her hands and knees coughing like crazy, trying to get the damned stuff out of her throat. Regulations dictated that she had to regurgitate the stuff and then swallow it, but she thought to hell with it and spat it on the floor. Right now she wanted coffee, even if it was the sludge the Navy called coffee, anything to help with waking up and this was because she couldn't take the normal wake-up stim because she was allergic to the damn stuff apparently. _That_ had _not_ been a fun day _at all_ she had spent the better part of two days in the infirmary getting over the allergic reaction. So no fancy wake up drugs for her, instead she had to rely on good old caffeine in order to wake up. Which was fine by her, she actually preferred using coffee to wake up, it was probably better for her anyway.

But first she had to change out of this damned Cryosuit. The thing was unbearably uncomfortable and while it granted you decency, which normally went out the window back in basic when in the military, using the stupid thing always gave you a minor case of Freezer burn and a little bit of Cryo-itch and thus most people who used them hated them but would use them anyway just so they would a little bit of decency.

Once she got into the locker room, she quickly changed out of her cryosuit and into a set of utilities, mainly because a quick glance at the clock told her that they were still roughly ten hours before they exited slipstream space. Which meant that they still had enough time to at least get to feel somewhat human before they would exit slipspace. Which was fine by her because for all she knew, this could be her first and only engagement with the Covenant. She had heard about the slaughters that had occurred when the those goddamned split-lips had revealed the _Seraph_ , those things had much tougher shields than the Type-27 Exoatmospheric Heavy Fighter called "Duppies" by UNSC Aerospace jocks and they were faster and more maneuverable but weren't as heavily armed or armored when compared to the Duppy.

She was about to close her locker when a hand came down on her shoulder. Erica jumped in response and spun around, coming face to face with… Cougar. "Jesus Christ! Don't do that to me Cougar!" Erica snapped to his face.

"Jumpy?" He asked in a cheeky tone.

"Was denkst du schwachsinnig?" Erica hissed angrily in her native German at her fellow starfighter pilot. Cougar however didn't hail from Germany but in fact hailed from America. But like all members of the United Nations Space Command Defense Forces he had taken a couple of language courses in order to touch base with such the wide diversity of people who were in the organization.

"How am I imbecile?" Cougar asked curiously.

"For thinking that I am jumpy! Of course I am jumpy! We got less than a day before our first battle with the Covenant." Erica snapped out.

"Testy, testy. Come on, it can't be that bad. I am nervous but I am not thinking that I am going to die." Cougar replied with a smile.

"Cougar, if you're not getting pre-battle jitters than what the hell is wrong with you! I've never been so jumpy before!" Erica hissed.

"Oh come off it. You're getting angry and you're hungry and you're not you when you're hungry." Cougar said.

"Well of course I am! I haven't had a chance to eat anything!" Erica hissed eyeing Cougar as if she was judging how far she could kick him.

"First don't give me that look and second, let's get you some chow." Cougar said before practically dragging Erica out of the locker room.

But at least Cougar was correct, Erica wasn't herself when she was jumpy, angry, and tired. After three and half cups of coffee and a solid breakfast however, she was feeling a lot better however.

Erica looked up from her datapad at Cougar. "Hard to believe that most of us probably won't make it through this alive." Erica said quietly.

Cougar shrugged. "True, but remember how you reacted when the simulator decided to drop a trio of _Seraphs_ on your head?" he asked with a smile.

"How could I forget? I barely had time to register it before the message your dead began blinking. I think what happened next was a stream of profanity." Erica said.

"Profanity doesn't begin to describe how you reacted. You came storming out of that simulator practically demanding who thought it was good idea to "fuck with the nuggets by having the fucking computer drop a flight of fucking _Seraphs_ on one's head without a fucking Impulse drive signature for a fucking warning?" it was rather hilarious." Cougar said grinning.

"Wipe that grin off your face it wasn't funny if anything it was fucking stupid. I swear it was probably a prank by some asshole." Erica groused sourly.

"Probably, but your reaction was comedy gold. I don't know who decided it would be a good idea to fuck with you but it was amusing watching your reaction." Cougar said with a grin and Erica scowled.

"I am surprised I didn't get chewed out by someone." Erica admitted.

"You know, that was before Ice Queen called you Bubi, so at first your callsign would've been Wildcat, mainly because it's like you. Cute and adorable but piss one off and you'll get either an ass-whooping or an ass-chewing. Never really did catch on." Cougar said in a nonchalant tone.

"Seriously, Wildcat? Also why would you consider me cute and adorable?" Erica asked confused.

"Because you are cute and adorable. Particularly when you get flustered, I think it was Ice Queen who shot the idea down. Not that I am complaining, Bubi fits you better." Cougar said with a wink.

"Can't imagine why." Erica said as she went back to her datapad, trying to connect with Barkhorn. Finally the connection went through and a rather exhausted looking Barkhorn appeared in the screen.

" _What is it Bubi? I haven't even eaten yet._ " The extremely exhausted voice of Gertrude Barkhorn said with a yawn.

"Was just wanting to know how you're taking all of the stress from these pre-battle jitters?" Erica asked, she wanted to take her mind off the pre-battle jitters she was feeling.

" _Not real well honestly. I haven't felt this damned nervous since the qualification exam for the hands-on carrier landing. That was nerve-racking, except this time there will be hostiles and they'll be shooting at us._ " Barkhorn replied groggily.

"Don't remind me. Doing those landings was hard enough, mainly because trying to hit a landing bay that's big enough for a Longsword Bomber while the Carrier is moving is rather difficult. I can't imagine how hard it would be if you have to land damaged." Erica said shuddering at the thought and for good reason. Hands-on approach Carrier landings were pretty damn hard, mainly because trying to peg a target that wasn't all that big, particularly with both targets moving at any sort of decent velocity.

" _True, if we have to do combat-landings that will be fun. Not looking forward to that._ " Barkhorn said before taking a sip of what was probably coffee.

"True, but personally I am more concerned about the _Seraphs_ , mainly because they are pretty damned agile. Not that the other models of Covenant starfighters are no slouches either." Erica said with a groan, their chances of survival wasn't the greatest.

" _We handled them well enough in the simulators. They weren't that hard to deal with, computer deciding to drop a flight of_ Seraphs _on one's head notwithstanding._ " Barkhorn said with a dry chuckle.

"Key words being "in the simulators." that was against the computer and not a real opponent. Fighting against a machine is one thing, but fighting against a living opponent? That's another thing entirely, mainly because they are unpredictable." Erica said shaking her head.

" _Got a point there. So who knows how things will go._ " Barkhorn said.

The next few hours passed by slowly, far too slowly for Erica's liking. The tension seemed to be building as they got closer and closer to being able to exit slipstream space. Before long it was time to don the standard issue UNSC aviators uniform, the first part involved with putting a UNSC Flight Suit on was that first she had to change out of her utilites after that was done then the flight-suit itself came, it combined the aspects of a flak jacket, pressure suit, g-suit, environmental suit, and space suit all into one. The reason for this was that space was an extremely hostile place and throw Aerospace Fighter combat into the mix and it gets even more hostile. After the main part of the flight suit came the gloves and the boots, like the flight suit they incorporated the same style of undersuit which was a Titanium nanocomposite weave designed to stop radiation and micrometeorites in case one had to eject, plus it provided life support for about four hours.

After donning the flight suit Erica made her way to the portside launch bay where her fighter was. The launch bay was a flurry of activity, munition carts maneuvered too and fro across the area, carrying cannon rounds, missiles, missile pods, ECM pods, etc. Fuel carts were by the numerous fighters, multiroles, and bombers providing fuel to the various craft of war.

"Ready ma'am?" Her crew chief asked as she got to her fighter, nose number 323 which meant that her fighter was in the 3rd Squadron, The Jolly Rogers, and was the 23rd Aerospace craft in the squadron and was just experienced enough through either luck or skill, probably both she was an element leader.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Erica replied before surmounting the ramp and entering the fighter, her crew chief right behind her. Once they got into the cockpit of the craft, she noted that her RIO was already seated and strapped in, Erica sat down and waited as the crew chief got her strapped in and then she donned her helmet and there was a slight hiss as the pressure seal engaged.

"Good luck and good hunting ma'am." Her crew chief said before stepping away and leaving the cockpit, sealing it behind him as he left.

Erica's hands then began to dance across the control board and began to warm the Longsword Fighter up. The fighter lurched forward just as the reactor was coming online and was guided to one of the launch tubes. The launch tube used a two door system, the first door lead out to the launch bay and the second lead out to the launch tube itself. In essence it worked like a gigantic air lock.

With a muted thunk, the launch cradle attached itself to the bottom of the craft. Now all that remained was for the electromagnetic rail launching system to build up a charge and for Battle Group India to exit slipspace. She sighed, this was going to be the hardest part, the damned waiting. If there was one thing that she hated it was the damned waiting. Then it changed, there was an almost imperceptible jolt as the _Yuri Gagarin_ dropped out of slipspace and into realspace. The radio crackled and the voice of the flight controller came over the freq. " _All squadrons, launch, launch, launch._ "

Erica had just three seconds to wait after that announcement before the circuit was completed on the rails and the launch cradle rocketed forward. The acceleration force pinned her to the back of her seat with a minor grunt of exertion, the fighter raced down the launch tube and then shot out into the inky black of space. She engaged a brief pulse of full throttle from the engines and then brought her craft up into formation.

Around the assembling Jolly Rogers were dozens of Longsword Fighters, Longsword Heavy Bombers, a few scattered formations of Broadswords, plus Kestrel UCAVs. It was a symbol of humanity's military might and it was on full display. A sign to the colony that was evacuating that the promise of salvation and survival had arrived.

Erica powered up her Longsword's powerful passive long-range sensors, which while they weren't as powerful as the sensor suite on the Longsword Bomber it was the most powerful passive sensor suite outside of the Claymore ELINT craft ever put on a human aerospace craft of its size, and promptly frowned at what she was seeing as images appeared thanks to the powerful forward telescope that the Longsword had, there was something off about them and she gave the images a closer look. Her frown deepened as she realized she was looking at energy weapon discharges, but they weren't plasma torpedoes or particle beam discharges they were moving far too quick, in fact judging by the scale of the image they energy bursts were traveling at the speed of light or damn near close to it and thus for a moment she thought she was staring at Covenant pulse laser fire but quickly tossed the idea, Covenant pulse laser fire was electric blue but this energy discharges were bright violet in color. Then there was the fact that there was fire going the other way, the distinctive angry crimson of Covenant plasma torpedoes and stabbing purple of particle beams.

She looked at the range to the anomaly, it was just over two and half light-hours out or roughly 2,698,132,122 kilometers away, a flank speed burn followed by drifting in would take roughly six hours for the fleet to arrive although the fighters could get their faster thanks to their lower weight and thus higher thrust-to-weight ratio.

"Cosmonaut, this is Skull Twenty-three. I just powered up my long range passive sensor suite and I am picking up laser blasts and plasma fire. Note, the laser fire is indigo in color, not I repeat not electric blue. It's coming off as a little strange because I don't think we use laser based weapons anymore, at least not on our mainline warships. Can you confirm?" Erica asked as she gazed at the images again.

There was silence over the comms for several long seconds. During that time Erica cut the engines to her Longsword as she reached the lower end of her combat speed, allowing her to drift thanks to interia. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to her craft, the reactor was thrumming along nicely, the life support system was doing its own thing, she could hear the communications between her squadron mates. It was remarkably peaceful, here she was likely facing death in a couple of hours and she was at peace.

Suddenly her radio crackled, but to her shock it wasn't Cosmonaut but instead, she glanced at the message source again. It was coming from the _Everest_ , the flagship. " _Skull Twenty-three, this is Overlord. Confirmed, we just turned our own optical telescope that way and we have to agree. Something is happening. Jolly Rogers, I am assigning you to a little recon, get in their, take a quick snoop at what is happening, and then get out. According to intelligence we still got time until the Covenant Attack Fleet shows its ugly head. Make sure you lay communication buoys so you can maintain tight-beam communications._ " Overlord said. Something about that call sign stuck out at Erica but she didn't know what it was. Then it clicked.

* * *

 **0720 Hours, February 10th, 2625 (Military Calendar)**

 **Endurance Tower, New Alexandria**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

"Wait a minute! Your telling me that the first time you noticed something off in a couple of images and relayed it to the _Yuri Gagarin_ that they then relayed it to the _Everest_?" Amirah asked shocked.

"Tell me about it, when I was in flight school I developed a habit of booting up the optical telescope part of the passive sensor array and taking a couple of images and video feed from it in order to see if it had survived the launch intact. The specifications dictate that it would survive a launch intact but I didn't want to take any chances." Erica replied bluntly.

"So what happened after the battle?" Amirah asked curiously.

"You'll just have to wait till the end, because that's the best part." Erica said cheekily.

"Bugger, you like doing cliff-hangers on me don't ya?" Amirah replied as Erica grinned.

* * *

 **2230 Hours, November 5th, 2534 (Military Calendar)**

 **Onboard a C710 Longsword Fighter**

 **Futer System**

" _Roger Overlord. All right Skull squadron, you heard the man. Let's go see who is poking about._ " Skull leader said as new orders appeared as well as a maneuvering track that would take them into a Gravity-assist around a gas giant and shave _hours_ off of their flight time. But gravity-assists were dangerous, botch it up and you wind up so deep in the gravity well that it would be impossible to escape the gravity well or it could throw you in a random direction so hard and fast that rescue while plausible would be a bitch, particularly when dealing with Gas Giants.

The Longswords of Skull Squadron peeled off by flight, four Longswords at a time, one after another with a gap of roughly a half second between each flight doing its course correction. Finally her flight's turn came and they moved in prefect parade ground harmony, engaging the main engines at such a low output so they could maintain control, then gracefully sliding through the vacuum onto a new trajectory with flawless precision.

Two hours later they were lining up for the gravity assist. They came in at full speed, aligned themselves on the trajectory that they wished to use. Then they accelerated toward the Gas Giant, the gravity pinning the pilots to their seats as the clouds swirled ahead of them and then they were gone as the Longswords looped up and away from the massive Saturn-esque planet on an first-class high-speed express ticket ride into the inner system.

" _Slingshot complete, ETA to the anomaly is forty-five minutes._ " Skull leader said.

"Roger." Erica said before recalibrating her passives for the shorter range and then taking more images with the powerful optical telescope. This time, however her radar could just begin to get into mix as well.

The picture it painted was a bizarre one. There was debris everywhere, a _lot_ of it, pieces of ships had been either sliced apart neatly or were blackened and burned. But their didn't appear to be any other ships, whatever had happened it was now over, just by looking at the screens though it must have been one hell of a fight however.

"This is absurd, who would've fought a battle of this sort of ferocity?" Erica asked as they approached the outer edges of a debris field.

" _Someone who doesn't know when to quit. That's who fights like this Skull Twenty-Three. However, we got to try and figure out who would be fighting like this and who is doing the fighting._ " Skull leader said.

A series of affirmatives ran over the comms. Erica began to look closer at the images as they got clearer and clearer as they approached. Suddenly Erica's sensor board pinged. "Skull leader, I got a match on something." Erica said before doing a double take at the display. "Your not going to believe what the computer found in this mess of a debris field." She said.

" _Surprise me Skull Twenty-Three. What is it?_ " Skull leader asked.

"Computer has a seventy-five percent match on something. The computer thinks it is or rather was a _River_ class Fast Cruiser. Sir, who the hell uses one-hundred year old plus kit?" Erica asked.

Skull leader was apparently sipping on some water, because he began coughing and gagging. " _W-what!? The computer thinks it's found a_ River _class Fast Cruiser? Skull Twenty-Three, those things were retired in the early 24th Century. But, there is only a few possible groups that could be using something that old. In order of probability, we got the United Rebel Front, a Private Military Corporation, or some really dead idiot playing vigilante. But in the meantime everyone, eyes up, you detect an active contact for even a second call it out._ " Skull leader said.

The chorus of affirmatives that went around was clear. The moment that they would see something, they would give a shout. "Boss, I am going to give a report to Overlord." Erica said.

" _Affirmative, Skull Twenty-Three. Make it quick, we're heading deeper in._ " Skull leader said.

"Affirmative." Erica replied before switching channels. "Overlord come in." She said.

" _Overlord here. What's the situation Skull Twenty-three?_ " Overlord replied in a calm voice.

"Well, we got one heck of a mystery here Overlord. We've found a lot of wreckage that indicates there was a battle here recently. But here's the kicker, the computer got a good enough look at one of pieces of debris and identified it as a _River_ class Fast Cruiser. We're moving deeper in-system in order to try and figure out what's going on." Erica said calmly.

" _A_ River _class? Your positive?_ " Overlord asked surprised.

"Yes sir, seventy-five percent match. Thing has been cut to pieces however." Erica said before suddenly someone screamed a warning.

" _Starfuries high! We got Starfuries high!_ " Skull Sixteen screamed.

"Shit! I am going to have to call you back Overlord. We got two flights of URF Starfuries!" Erica said before cutting the connection and glancing at her radar. There was twenty odd Starfuries approaching on their two o'clock and nine o'clock. The computer had already identified them, the group on their nine was composed of Interstellar Civil War era Panther Furies but the group on their two o'clock however was composed of newer Tomahawk Starfuries which popped up occasionally. The Starfury was originally imagined as the UNSC's primary Aerospace fighter, but it was replaced by the Sword-series of Aerospace Fighter which while less maneuverable carried a bigger punch, was longer ranged, and had armor that was worth a damn.

Then the mystery deepened as the Tiger Furies suddenly spun around with the sharp quickness that they were legendary for and quickly raced into the debris field. The Tomahawk Starfuries however did something different. " _UNSC Fighter Squadron, this is the United Rebel Front affiliated squadron Silver Fox. I am Kanin Prem, Silver Fox leader. It's good to see some relatively friendly faces after what we've been through._ " The leader of the URF fighter squadron said.

" _Alright, fill us in. We're going to be running a hot mic in order to fill Overlord in as well._ " Skull leader said.

" _Wait, you mean your apart of Battle Group India? Well then, our situation just went from "we're all gonna die." to "we might just survive this." anyway it started about twenty hours ago when we had a formation of five Covenant ships drop out of slipspace and promptly make a beeline for Fueter III. The URF 2nd Fleet which was in-system immediately arrayed itself into a defensive formation. For what good it did, their shots went through our armor like it wasn't even their. And they shrugged our shots off with ease. We managed to destroy all five ships, but we took forty percent losses doing it!_ " Kanin said bluntly.

" _What's left?_ " Skull leader asked.

" _Roughly twenty ships are still intact, I think. But not sure about who can still fight._ " Kanin said.

" _Overlord, you caught that?_ " Skull leader asked.

" _Affirmative, we did catch that. So that explains the debris field. A URF fleet engaged what was likely a small Covenant raiding force. Judging by all of the ships that are currently wrecked, it didn't go well. We're currently about ninety minutes out, wait, ah hell Slipspace ruptures. They're here._ " Overlord said as multiple alarms light up on Erica's board. Forty odd slipspace ruptures had just appeared and Covenant warships were sliding out.

A new voice suddenly came bellowing over the frequency. " _All stations near Fueter III, assume immediate defensive positions! Battle Group India, we need you here like right now! My forces can't hold off another attack by Covenant Forces by themselves. Attention UNSC Fighter Squadron, I need you to cover my Carriers at least until we can fully pin down those hostile fighters. They kill my Carriers then we're in trouble._ " A new voice said over the freq.

" _Who is this?! Identify yourself now!_ " Overlord thundered.

" _This is URF aligned Admiral Hackett onboard the command ship_ Zeppelin _. You can come and arrest me on charges of being an Innie later, but first let's show these alien bastards how it's done. Right now we're in deep shit though, got eyes on a_ CAS _class Assault Carrier, behind it is at least ten cruisers of varying classes, fifteen destroyers, and several ships of an unknown configuration._ " Hackett said identifying himself.

Hackett, Erica recognized the name. He was descended from a man who had served in the Outer Colony Alliance Navy during the Interstellar Civil War and he had apparently joined up in the URF's struggle to "Free the Outer Colonies from the tyranny of Earth". The fact that the United Rebel Front which often used armed freighters, modified yachts, previous generation warships, and their signature fighter were typically members of the Starfury series, usually the old Nova or Aurora series Starfuries, although Tiger, Panther, Thunderbolt, and Tomahawk series Starfuries were also possible, were fighting the Covenant meant that maybe they could fully unite for a common cause.

" _Overlord, do you expect us to answer orders given out by an Innie?_ " Skull leader asked venomously.

" _Quite frankly yes. Those previous generation Carriers only have a CIWS network, everything else is dedicated to their crew and Aerospace facilities. If they come under determined aerospace fighter attack, then they are in deep shit. Besides, when the Covenant take the field Skull leader, things that are as petty as being an Innie or being a member of the UNSC no longer matters, we must put our differences aside and become a united front against them._ " Overlord said bluntly.

Erica sighed as she realized that Overlord was correct. The Covenant was such a massive threat to humanity's survival that it didn't matter if you were for or against the United Earth Government and by extension the United Nations Space Command Defense Forces. The Covenant was such a threat to humanity that quite literally it made sense to cast aside petty differences and squabbles and present a united front against the alien invaders.

Skull leader sighed audibly over the comms link, he obviously didn't like the idea. But orders were orders and when they came from an Admiral you damn well did them. The only reason that said Admiral was giving them orders directly was because they were farthest friendly units away from the fleet.

The Longswords quickly moved to their ordered position and Erica's jaw dropped when the remaining URF Warships came into view. The URF fleet was roughly organized into two battle clusters, each centered on an old dreadnought, one battle cluster was centered on a 23rd century _Nova_ class Dreadnought and the other was centered on a 25th century _Bonaparte_ class Dreadnought.

Each battle cluster had two 25th Century era _St. Louis_ class Armored Cruisers assigned to it, likely to provide extra firepower and armor, however the two battle clusters while they did have something other than the _St. Louis_ class ships for intermediates they didn't have many, the _Nova_ cluster had a 23rd century era _Hecate_ class Battlecruiser and she looked pretty chewed with probably at least a thirith of her mass boiled away and the _Bonaparte_ cluster had a single _Deutschland_ class Armored Cruiser of the same stock as the _St. Louis_ class. Also within each cluster were three old 24th Century _Browning_ class Escort Cruisers which were designed for one thing and that was to make a 20,000 kilometer diameter sphere that was a no fly zone and with their twenty-four dual 7.62cm rapid-fire coil gun mounts, they were very good at that. Lastly each battle cluster also had two _Rising Sun_ class Flak/AA Frigates and a half dozen armed freighters in order to supplement them.

Nearby was an early 24th century _Gottfried_ class Battleship, a ship whose extremely heavy armaments had made it so that it replaced the old _Nova_ class. The ludicrous number of laser batteries that the ship had was absolutely absurd, yet of the ship designs that had rolled out of the shipyards before roughly 2445 it was one of the most balanced designs there was, thanks to having multiple missile racks and a relatively decent point defense network. The ship itself was covered by a single 24th Century vintage _Iowa_ class Mk 2 Heavy Cruiser, a 24th Century vintage _Rene_ class Heavy Cruiser, three late 24th century vintage _Ramshead_ class Escorts, and a mid 25th Century vintage _Drake_ class Destroyer.

Problem was, like all UNSC ships of that era from before 2445 and even to a degree afterward, they used diode-pumped solid state lasers with coherent beam combining -taking a bunch of smaller laser beams, chirp pulse amplifying them and then combining them into a larger more powerful beam- as their primary weapon system and while they were incredibly powerful, capable of really ruining anyone's day out to about 45,000 kilometers, capable at that range of burning through 1.16 meters of Titanium-A. But thanks to the strain that was put on the reactors when firing, particularly alpha strikes it turned the ships into fuel whores. Not to mention the range of the laser cannons wasn't particularly great, at most a range of about 100,000 kilometers could be the extreme far end at which you could be expected to do damage to a ship that was using a Titanium hull.

This was part of the reason why coilguns and railguns were readopted, another part of the reason was because the focusing lenses didn't need to be kept perfectly polished and cleaned otherwise weapon performance would suffer. Of course the trade-off with using coilguns and railguns was that the ships and weapon mounts needed to be redesigned so they had actual ammunition feeds and could handle recoil.

Likewise it was a similar issue with missiles, they didn't have the recoil problem that coilguns or railguns did, but they had a problem with acceleration curves unless they were given a boost of some kind, which was either the release of nitrogen gas through a quick release valve that was attached to the end of the missile itself, when fired the quick release valve would open and a decent sized container of compressed nitrogen would unleash its contents all at once and thus would shove the missile right out of it's tube or off its rack not to mention imparting some forward motion making the acceleration curve problem less pronounced, meaning the missile didn't have to spend as much time burning it's engine to reach its maximum velocity. The other method of launching missiles was via an electromagnetic launching system, which solved the acceleration curve problem almost entirely but it had its own problems, mainly power consumption. Once you began firing hundreds of missiles at once, power quickly became issue and brownouts could result if you had to launch an absurd number of missiles in a short period of time. If Erica remembered right, that problem had resulted in the loss of a couple of Flight I _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruisers.

She shook her head and pushed the various thoughts about the evolution of human starship weapon systems out of her head. The Jolly Rogers were rapidly approaching the position they were needed at, she glanced at her scanners and whistled. This URF fleet had a absolutely ancient 22nd century vintage _Armor_ class carrier, four newer 23rd century era _Avenger_ class Carriers, and a slightly newer 24th century era _Ark Royal_ class Carrier. Providing escort for the ships was a grand total of three _Rising Sun_ class Flak/AA Frigates, two _Browning_ class Escort Cruisers, and a dozen modified freighters.

That sight made Erica grimace, there wasn't enough defense ships to go around to protect the carriers. The ancient _Armor_ class ship, well it was so old that Erica half expected the thing to just fall apart if they took a direct hit, granted the same was true for the _Avenger_ and _Ark Royal_ class ships. The defensive ships they did have didn't seem that bad, but again they were pretty old and the modified freighters probably had improvised bolted on armor and weapon systems.

Her radio crackled and a new voice came over the freq. " _Jolly Rogers, this is Spearhead. I'll be your mission director for today, listen up Battle Group India is accelerating in-system as fast as they can. But they are only going to arrive roughly three minutes before the Covenant get within range and as it stands this is going to be tight. Were scrambling whatever is still flyable but the fleet aerospace wing took horrific losses against enemy fighters and point defense._ " Spearhead said introducing herself judging by the tone.

" _What can we expect?_ " Skull leader asked as the Jolly Rogers took up CAP positions.

" _We're not entirely sure on the designations that you use. But expect heavy fighter analoges, multirole analoges, interceptor analoges, and fighter-bomber analoges. Be careful around the multirole analoges, they managed to give even our Starfuries a difficult time. Oh hell, your about to get busy, impulse drive signatures detected. By all indications, heavy fighter analogues._ " Spearhead said as Erica's board lit up.

She craned her neck up and caught several brief purple flashes. "Contacts!" She called out as her sensor board painted at least a dozen bogies.

" _Confirmed here, we got Duppies. Let's go get them!_ " Skull Three announced.

" _Right, here we go! Follow my lead!_ " Skull leader announced and then as one the Longsword pilots cut their engines and then fired their ventral thrusters in such a manner that it brought the nose up. This was followed quickly by short burn from the main thrusters.

Far above them, the Duppies did their own burn and came down toward them, but at this range they weren't even visible, with the exception of pinpoints of light that appeared to be incredibly far away. " _Skull squadron, weapons free! Let'em have it!_ " Skull leader whooped.

That was her RIO's cue, Doru "Sidewinder" Akkas  
powered up the Longsword's impressive targeting sensor array, lidar, radar, thermal, optical, it all worked together to paint a picture and then the onboard computer selected upwards of twenty targets for engagement. However contrary to popular belief, it took time for the scans to go out and return. Thus lightspeed lag could be a serious problem usually when it came to targeting, but not in this case. In this case the range was little more than a light-second and thus there was no significant lag and thus it was good enough for government work.

"Alright, Sidewinder what do we got?" Erica asked as she armed weapons.

"Quite a collection of hostiles. Make thirty _Duppies_ , judging by the formation it's a fighter sweep. They are going to try and sweep us aside and that would allow for strike craft to sweep through and ravage the carriers." Sidewinder said in his heavy Turkish accent, the man was from Jericho VII and thus this battle was a little closer to home than he probably liked.

"Right, lock-them up. Long range stuff first." Erica ordered as she gazed at the multiple green boxes with range indicators showing enemy fighters. The numbers indicating that the range between the two fighter formations was closing fast.

"Got tone!" Sidewinder said and a moment later six of the boxes turned from green to red indicating lock-on.

"Let us begin. Fox three!" Erica cried and from the Longsword's centerline weapon, six Space Phoenixes were hurled by a blast of compressed nitrogen out of their launch tube, fins deploying -a requirement when being used even in the extreme edge of the atmosphere for they provided stability-, engine engaging, a trail of blue plasma gushing out behind the missiles as they streaked forward and bored in on targets.

Around Erica's Longsword, the others unleashed their missiles. Six at a time, before long their was absolutely insane number of missiles streaking toward the Covenant fighters. Which promptly retaliated, the missile lock alarm let out an unholy screech as a Covenant _Duppy_ got a lock-on and promptly fired. The radar plot was now filled with dozens missiles burning hard toward their targets, however the Covenant missiles tended to have an extremely effective plasma warhead but it had contact fuse, however some of the newer ones used an antimatter warhead -which while it contained a minuscule amount of antimatter the power contained was incredible- with a proximity fuse and could throw a ton of lethal shrapnel out moving in an awful hurry. The Space Phoenix however used a HEDP style warhead, it would throw out lot's of shrapnel and had enough explosive power in it's warhead to tear a Longsword Bomber right in half and thus while it was nowhere near as lethal as an the plasma or antimatter warheads that the Covenant used, it was still extremely effective. However in order to crack the shielding on Covenant _Duppies_ it often took a single missile to do so, but the kinetic and explosive force delivered would sometimes kill the pilot thanks to the explosive and kinetic force that was transferred to the target and even if it didn't a direct hit would often result in a blown shield generator and a damaged fighter.

Erica counted two hostile missiles streaking towards her fighter. She swore as the formation the Jolly Rogers had maintained going up to engage broke apart and scattered as the fighters began their own evasive maneuvers in order to decoy the incoming hostile missiles. Erica pitched her fighter down and hit the main thrusters, the Longsword shot forward like it had been fired out of cannon. She hit the countermeasure release and a dozen odd countermeasures were launched from her fighter. Each one almost perfectly replicated the Longsword's radar, lidar, and thermal signature, the differences were subtle but it was good enough to decoy most human made missiles, about twenty percent of the time alone and roughly sixty percent of the time with maneuvers hence the reason why UNSC aerospace fighters had moved towards bigger and less maneuverable craft was so that it could actually take a hit from a missile. The decoys worked against their Covenant counterparts about forty percent of the time alone and with maneuvers that went up to about eighty percent of the time.

She pitched her fighter into a rapidfire series of high-speed and high-gee turns, climbs, and dives in order to get some distance, grunting as the gees pinned her to her seat and the gee-suit fought the forces of gravity to prevent the blood from pooling in her extremities. She swung the fighter around and craned her head up and spotted the missiles, one had taken the bait and had exploded kilometers above and behind her. But the other one was closing fast, having completely ignored the decoys and was now rapidly increasing speed and closing fast as it entered it's terminal phase. Erica swore and flipped her fighter around so that it was now facing the incoming missile, mainly because she was now in this missile's no escape zone, no matter the maneuver and no matter how much power she put into the engines she wouldn't be able to outrun it or outmaneuver it. Which meant she had to do something drastic, so here she was flying upside down and backwards about to try and shoot the missile down with her guns.

In theory the targeting computer for the dual 50mm rotary cannons -Erica had heard rumors that the next series of Longsword fighter was going to be armed with 50mm coilguns which would provide far superior punching power when compared to the chemically propelled rounds used by the rotary cannons, the problem was making the reactor powerful enough to be able to fire the weapons and not short out the fighter but they were getting close- was capable of pegging a target the size of a Covenant anti-aerospace fighter missile, which was as big as some 20th century Anti-ship Missiles, granted UNSC anti-aerospace missiles were big too but the Covenant missiles were a lot bigger than their human counterparts, being roughly nine and half meters in length and seventy-six centimeters in diameter whereas the Space Phoenix was only five and quarter meters in length and was forty centimeters in diameter.

This was probably because despite the fact that Covenant Aerospace Fighters had shields, they didn't have much of a standoff capability like UNSC fighters did. Which means that the reason that the Covenant anti-aerospace fighter missiles were so big was because they had initiated a crash development course in order to design, test, and implement them and they weren't as good as UNSC anti-aerospace fighter missiles for the most part, but that was probably because of just how good UNSC decoys were. The thing was a little faster than it's UNSC counterparts but paid for it by having a slightly shorter range and when compared to the Space Phoenix the Covenant's version was equal in maneuverability and agility.

The red square indicating the missile appeared in her field of vision forward, next to it was the range and the estimated time to impact. Both numbers were dropping rapidly as the missile bored in. In an instant, thanks to her neural lace, she switched from missiles to guns and a pipper was immediately displayed on her HUD. The guns immediately cycled and loaded a round into the chamber, now they did have a limited ability to track targets, roughly seven degrees to port and starboard and ten degrees up and down, they did this by having the helmet track the motion of the human eye and adjust accordingly. Erica selected the incoming missile as her target with an eye-blink and the computer promptly put up a lead indicator. She brought the pipper onto the lead indicator and squeezed the trigger for three seconds, through the speakers in her helmet the 50mm guns unleashed a thundering roar and within those three seconds spat some two hundred rounds each, a three-to-one-to-one mixture of Depleted Uranium AP, SAPHE, and tracers flew through the void and detonated the hostile missile some twenty kilometers out.

Erica promptly snap rolled the Longsword away and then the debris missile raced through where her fighter had been a moment ago. " _Bubi check six!_ " Skull Fourteen shouted.

Erica instantly throttled up and checked the chase cameras, she swore. A _Duppy_ was swinging around onto her tail. Great. That thing had six heavy plasma cannons and thus had more than enough firepower to tear her Longsword apart in a matter of seconds. But she also knew that she had options, she flipped her Longsword back around and firewalled the engines. Accelerating _towards_ the hostile that a moment ago had been on her six. The pilot of the _Duppy_ spun his craft to the side and Erica cursed as she pitched her fighter and cut a turn towards the _Duppy_ , to try and fly above it thus giving her a chance to get some breathing room.

The maneuver worked fairly well, but not as well as Erica had hoped. She managed to race over the head of the _Duppy_ and was in the process of climbing and starting to head back towards the carriers which had numerous silent flak bursts, missile contrails, tracer streams, and the occasional explosion dotting the void around the ships. The _Duppy_ in the meantime wheeled around a hell of a lot faster than Erica expected and thus she had only managed to open up a gap of barely two dozen kilometers between her and it. At that distance a _Duppy_ 's plasma cannons would have no problem tearing her fighter apart.

Unacceptable.

She dropped additional decoys, hit the afterburners, swung back around and raced back over the head of the _Duppy_ , engaged her ECM, and then hit her radio. "This is Skull Twenty-Three, I could use a little help here!" she cried as she began to jink slightly as the _Duppy_ behind her was forced to come around _yet_ again in order to give chase. But that fighter still wheeled around with incredible quickness and with a flash from it's impulse drive gave chase.

An alarm started playing lightly in her helmet as the _Duppy_ 's targeting system began to send powerful radar and lidar signals out to paint the hull of her fighter. Cursing at the fact that the bastard's targeting computer had gone right through her passive ECM systems she set the system to active jamming. Sure enough that did the trick for the alarm stopped beeping in her helmet.

Not that the Covenant flier was going to try his luck. For suddenly a burst of searing red energy bolts streaked right past her window. "Anybody out there?! I can't shake this _Duppy_!" Erica said as more plasma streaked past her Longsword. The _Duppy_ could fire a lot of plasma in very short period of time thanks to it's very heavy armament and with the amount of energy that starting to streak by her Longsword it was little wonder that Erica began to get nervous.

" _Hang on Skull Twenty-Three, this is Harbinger 2-1 we're coming._ " A new voice said.

"Make it quick! This guy is good!" Erica replied as she threw her Longsword into wild roll to try and throw the Covie's aim. Not that it was working, the _Duppy_ was sticking to her tail like glue and was steadily gaining on her Longsword. Sooner or later the fucker would be close enough that not even the powerful ECM suite on the Longsword would be able to protect her.

She checked the chase cameras and swore as the _Duppy_ kept getting closer and closer. Cursing she reversed her course… and the fighter jolted angrily as a plasma bolt clipped tip of the right wing and partially slagged it in an instant. Her Longsword rocketed over the _Duppy_ which was already beginning to wheel around to maintain pursuit and the chance to put rounds into the hostile had been approximately two seconds, or far too short a time to acquire the target and pull the trigger.

Regardless the course reversal had bought her some breathing room. But even with the advanced series of maneuvers that she was throwing her Longsword through, she couldn't out maneuver this _Duppy_ forever and now that her fighter had been damaged, she could tell that it's pilot smelled blood in the water and wanted to put her out of her misery. The _Duppy_ quickly closed and opened fire again, sending searing energy pulses streaking towards her fighter, cursing Erica jinxed her fighter right, left, up, and down not in that particular order but in general.

An alarm wailed inside the cockpit as plasma streaked by her cockpit, causing the internal temperature to spike dramatically, going up by at least twenty-degrees centigrade in an instant. Cursing, Erica brought the nose down and fired her starboard maneuvering thrusters, the Longsword swung around with effortless ease onto a new course. Which the _Duppy_ easily followed, opening fire as it did so, more plasma bolts speared forward and the Longsword jolted angrily as a plasma bolt cored through the left wing and caused major internal damage.

"Harbinger 2-1, where the fuck are you?!" Erica said as she sent her Longsword into a full throttle radically turning climb.

" _Keep your pants on Skull Twenty-three, business has been good today._ " A calm and collected male voice said as "diving" down from above came a pair of URF Tomahawk Starfuries, their twin rotary 40mm cannons spitting utter hatred at the _Duppy_.

To the hostile pilot's credit, he reacted perfectly. Effortlessly spinning his fighter around and raising the nose. The six heavy plasma cannons came to life and spat energy even as the shields failed after taking hundred hits and allowed tungsten slugs to utterly tear the _Duppy_ apart. The two Starfuries maneuvered out of the away of the plasma, but the trailing one caught three energy bolts and was quite simply blown apart.

" _You alright their Skull Twenty-three?_ " The URF pilot asked.

"I'll live thanks for the aid Harbinger 2-1. Let's get back on CAP." Erica said as she pulled up alongside the URF Tomahawk Starfury.

" _Right, just to let you know. Skull leader isn't happy with you. Mainly because you got locked in a one-on-one dogfight with a Covenant Heavy Fighter and you know how stupid it is to do that._ " Harbinger 2-1 said as the two craft came up to where the carriers were. In the far distance, flashes of light signified the major battle that was going on.

Erica grimaced at state that the Carrier escort was in, some of the _Duppies_ had managed to get close enough to the escorts to really do some major damage with their missiles. While the older warships had survived, albeit with some noticeable damage. The modified freighters hadn't been so lucky, while they were fairly durable and had _a lot_ of structural reinforcement and a decent amount of bolted on armor plate, they weren't purpose built warships and had promptly suffered. The warheads on the Covenant missiles had done incredible damage.

" _Damn, I am thinking that was just a warm-up, because here comes the main event. We're about to get very busy folks._ " Someone in Skull squadron said as Erica's sensor board lit up with sixty-five contacts and her heart sank, the classification for the incoming impulse drive signatures was fifty multirole class, ten heavy fighter class, and five gunboat class.

Arrayed against them was sixteen C710 Longswords, some fifty Starfuries, and some forty-eight positively ancient Cosmo Falcons. Not exactly thrilling odds, although the Starfuries would probably have to do the most heavy lifting. But they could win this, it would just be … difficult to do so.

The comm crackled. " _All escorts, enemy suppression barrage. Execute._ " The carrier group commander ordered.

As one the surviving URF ships powered forward and then turned toward the incoming till they were broadside on. Unveiling their heavy broadside armament, just as the Covenant strike package appeared, there was an unsettling number of _Seraphs_ in it, the things were incredibly lethal. Even as the alien craft spun and dove and the escorts opened fire putting up a wall of steel. The _Seraphs_ pressed on without fear and thus they paid for it, the craft began dying as the ack-ack tore them to shreds. The gunboats and heavy fighters were hanging back obviously waiting for the _Seraphs_ to tear up the escorts.

But with a flak wall established, the _Seraphs_ would have to get creative in order to engage.

" _What the? Slipspace rupture?_ " Spearhead said as a pair of swirling portals into the eleven dimensions of slipspace appeared.

"Warning hostile warship detected." The onboard computer intoned.

 _Oh, this can't be good._ Erica thought as suddenly two Covenant _DAV_ class Corvettes slid silently out of the portals, which snapped closed behind them. Erica paled, while the corvettes didn't have energy shields, they were still heavily armed with four plasma cannons, six particle cannons, and eight pulse lasers. Those two things working together would easily be able to wipe all of the human aerospace craft in this general area from the sky with ease.

" _Scatter!_ " Someone yelled over the freq and the URF formation promptly split apart.

" _All fighters engage! Engage! But for fuck's sake, stay clear of those goddamned corvettes!_ " Spearhead bellowed over the radio.

Instantly, the one hundred fourteen aerospace fighters attacked the _Seraphs_ which were beginning to go after the escorts. Then the corvettes opened fire, stabs of blue and purple energy stitched lines through the void. Each energy pulse connecting with a URF ship and coring through the armor with ease. As Erica watched, one of the freighters was raked end-to-end multiple times with pulse lasers on their high-power setting as well as particle cannons.

The results were catastrophic, the lasers and particle cannons cored through the multiple layers of composite, Titanium-C, carbon nanotubes, and vandlem steel like it was wet paper. Internal explosions ripped through the freighter, convulsing it's four hundred fifty seven meter form, the blasts sent pieces of plating spinning away and the ship, it's command and control center destroyed. Thus it tumbled out of control, spewing flames and debris with her lights dead as she spun away. Something vital gave for a tremendous explosion suddenly snapped the ship right in two.

"Firebrand's Javelin _is down! Sonofabitch!_ " A Starfury pilot roared.

" _Keep your head on straight, engage these fighters!_ " Skull leader snapped.

Erica shook her head to ignore the rest of the space battle raging around her and focused on the _Seraph_ group in front of her. With a thought and the input going through her neural lace, Erica switched from guns to missiles.

"Lock them up Sidewinder. Two missiles per target, let's get a couple of kills on the first pass." Erica said as they bored in.

"Right" Sidewinder said and promptly locked up three _Seraphs_ with their remaining Space Phoenixes.

" _All fighters! Fox Three!_ " Skull Leader said and from the forty-eight Cosmo Falcons and sixteen C710 Longswords, missiles erupted forth, dozens of ghostly vapor trails arched and curved towards the _Seraphs_ which realizing the predicament they were in released decoys and headed up into the missiles.

The Covenant Multiroles got locks and fired their own missiles, at the URF Starfuries. The craft instantly went evasive, spinning, climbing, and descending while dropping decoys.

Suddenly on Erica's display three craft winked out of existence and in the lower left hand corner of the screen. A wire-frame representation of the Covenant _Seraph_ appeared, with number "three" next to it. Her first kills.

But there wasn't anytime to celebrate them. The human formation split, as they swept into dogfighting range. The Longswords broke into two formations of eight and swept down and up, while the Starfuries that had succeeded in evading their missiles and the Cosmo Falcons went to the left and right respectively. The reaction from the Covenant _Seraphs_ , their numbers now cut down to roughly twenty was textbook. The _Seraph_ formation broke apart, mostly going to the right where the Cosmo Falcons were and a few going down into the lower Longsword formation.

Chaos erupted as the old and slow Cosmo Falcons were ripped into with horrifying ease. Energy bolts crossed paths shells and numerous silent explosions began to dot the spacescape as the fighters clashed. But for Erica things just got interesting, she switched from missiles to cannons.

Three _Seraphs_ came right at the eight Longswords, when suddenly from point-blank range they unleashed two missiles apiece. No chance to even begin to evade the incoming and thus the missiles impaled six of the Longswords and detonated, blowing the space frames apart and sending them out of control.

" _You still with me Skull Twenty-Three?_ " Skull Five asked as the _Seraphs_ blitzed past and both Longswords flipped around and came at their pursuers.

"Somehow!" Erica replied.

" _Right you go over, I'll go under! Then we can go after the poor chump who'll be left._ " Skull Five replied.

"Roger that!" Erica said as they came at the three _Seraphs_ who by this point were out of missiles. Two Aerospace fighters separated perfectly and came on their attack runs. The _Seraph_ that Erica was targeting realized the shit he was in and tried to maneuver so that he could riddle her Longsword with plasma.

But Erica was quicker on the trigger, a torrent of fifty millimeter shells streaked forth. They crashed hard against the energy shields that the _Seraph_ had and just as the craft began to go move under her she flicked her nose down through a partial flip in order to keep the hostile within the gun arcs, she put five and half seconds worth of fire into the shields of the _Seraph_ before with a brilliant flash the shields failed and the tsunami of the rounds tore the _Seraph_ 's space frame apart. It's drive blew and the fighter vanished in a brief blue-white star.

Erica whooped with glee at the sight of that. Her first gun kill. But they were still in combat and thus she didn't have time go over it. She flipped her Longsword around and caught a glimpse of Skull Five, the fighter had been savaged by plasma. "Skull Five you alright?" Erica asked worryingly.

" _No, I am crippled Skull Twenty-Three. Bastard tried to ram me, he didn't succeed but he did succeed in giving me a good dose of Plasma._ " Skull Five said.

"Right, think you can make it back to the _Yuri Gag-_ sonofabitch!" Erica began to say before cursing as the last _Seraph_ swopt in from above, coming out of nowhere and fired it's plasma cannons. Skull Five tried to go evasive but thanks to the damage that his Longsword had suffered it was an exercise in futility. Multiple plasma bolts cored right through the Titanium-C armor with incredible ease. A single energy bolt punched through the reactor and the starfighter vanished in a short lived star.

Erica swung her Longsword up and got after the _Seraph_. Almost immediately however the alien flier managed to nearly reverse it on her. She swore as the alien fighter lead her on a merry chase through the battlespace.

The battle wasn't going well, both Corvettes had been put down but not before they had killed the remaining freighters as well as both _Browning_ class Escorts, the _Armor_ class Carrier, and two of the _Avenger_ class carriers, they had also seriously worked over the _Rising Sun_ class ships, only one was still intact, the other one was severely damaged and the third one was nowhere to be seen, likely destroyed.

The _Seraph_ dove towards the gutted remains of a _Browning_ class Escort Cruiser, it's twisted and warped hull gutted by multiple plasma cannon blasts. Suddenly the _Seraph_ 's Impulse Drive flashed and the ship was gone. Erica pulled up and looped over the remains of the Cruiser and spotted her prey. She throttled up and winged over towards the Covenant aerospace fighter, she brought the pipper onto the hostile fighter and was about to squeeze the trigger when suddenly the alien craft's Impulse Drive flashed again and the ship vanished.

"Where did he go?" Erica asked aloud as she began searching for him. The chase cameras had nothing, where had he gone?

Suddenly a voice rang in her ear. It was harsh and grating, but perfectly understandable english. " _I can see you their nugget. Can you see me?_ " he asked.

"Where are you bastard and how the fuck do you know I am a nugget?" Erica hissed angrily as she glanced at Sidewinder who like Erica looked supremely confused.

" _So you can't see me. Let's just say I am good at hiding. As for how I could tell that your a nugget, it's in your flying style. You still don't trust your instincts or your gut. That said, you have potential, not many human pilots could keep up with me as well as you did._ " The same throaty voice growled.

"Your good at hiding you fucking bastard. I'll give you that and I'll take what you said as a compliment, now where the hell are you?" Erica demanded sharply.

" _Thanks for the compliment as for where I am,_ " the voice growled.

Then suddenly the computer intoned in it's rather flat and dull voice. "Warning bogey at six o'clock. Bogey at six o'clock."

Erica glanced at the chase cameras just in time to see a _Seraph_ barrelling at her. Plasma bursts flicking away from it's guns.

" _I am right behind you._ " The voice growled.

"SHIT!" Erica yelled as she sent her Longsword into a wild descending roll, but not before the plasma bolts took a good portion of the vertical tail right off her fighter. An alarm flashed, the thruster package that had been built into the tail assembly was gone. Which considering she had gotten lucky and hadn't lost the wingtip thrusters from the earlier hit, it wasn't a crippling blow but the damage done was pretty bad.

She level off and then sent her fighter into a wide turning climb, the vectored thrust engines and thrusters moving in harmony in order to move the fighter. The _Seraph_ moved with seemingly liquid grace, effortlessly sliding onto her tail. She reversed her turn and brought her ship's nose down using the thrusters.

With the grace that the _Seraph_ copied maneuver was incredible. She was about to do something drastic when suddenly the fighter lurched and then spun violently; three separate alarms howled in her headset, cabin breached, hull integrity crippled, and reactor destabilizing.

Fighting the controls she got the Longsword back under control and then the ship jolted again as several purple flashes stitched across the back of the cockpit causing a cockpit comprised alarm to start shrieking in her helmet as there was a brief sucking motion that pulled at her before stopping.

The _Seraph_ streaked past her crippled Longsword, promptly swung around and came to the altitude that her craft was at and fired a burst of plasma pulses. The energy bursts stitched along the RIO's side of the Interceptor, with the last energy bolt tearing its way into the cockpit and despite there being no more atmosphere in the ship, Erica _felt_ the temperature spike through her flight suit as the energy bolt struck Sidewinder square in the chest and reduced a sizeable portion of his flight suit and him to ash.

"Warning, reactor containment failure in twenty seconds." The onboard computer intoned.

Great, Erica had to eject now if she wanted to live. "Skull Twenty-three ejecting!" she shouted into the radio as she grabbed the yellow and black striped handles that were on either side of her seat and yanked hard. She had done the ejection simulations naturally, but compared to the real thing it wasn't the same. The seat leaned back and Titanium-C panels encased the seat, a moment later a large portion of the roof blasted off with explosive bolts and then an explosive charge hurled the crew escape pod right out of the cockpit, accelerating it towards minimum safe distance.

The pod had just barely reached it when the reactor blew and her Longsword vanished in a single retina-searing flash of radiation and energy. She sobbed, slightly she hadn't known Sidewinder that much and now he was dead and unless she was rescued in a couple of hours. So was she, except it wasn't going to happen thanks to an energy burst and thus be instant but instead she would suffocate.

That's when her radio crackled. " _I got ya Skull Twenty-three._ " the voice of a URF fighter pilot said as the pod jolted as the distinctive sound of grappling claw grating against Titanium rang in her ears as it found a hold.

"Thanks" Erica said numbly, her first battle ever and she nearly got killed several times and only had four kills to show for it. Her squadron had suffered heavy casualties, her RIO was dead, she had barely survived an encounter with what was likely an enemy ace. "Where did the _Seraph_ that got me go?" she asked.

" _Fucker bugged out. Things are starting to get nasty near the frontlines though. The split-lips are really starting to tear into our lines, your Admiral Cole isn't sure if he can hold off the Covenant forces indefinitely. That Assault Carrier is a fucking beast. It's tearing the_ Bonaparte's _battle cluster apart practically by itself._ " The URF pilot said.

Erica sighed, her battle was over. Her Longsword was gone, the Covenant fleet and the combined UNSC/URF fleet were tearing each other apart. It was frustrating and saddening, there was a battle raging and she couldn't take part in it.

* * *

 **0950 Hours, February 10th, 2625 (Military Calendar)**

 **Endurance Tower, New Alexandria**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

"So that was it? Damn, compared to the holovids of you at Skopje for example that was rather lackluster." Amirah said bluntly.

"Yeah, it was. The battle was pretty brutal, only two of the URF ships survived. The _Nova_ class and the _Gottfried_ class, plus the _Everest_ suffered heavy damage. In the months that the _Everest_ was out of commission it allowed the Covenant to run roughshod all over the Outer Colonies." Erica said dropping her head.

"Yeah, I remember. Whenever the Covenant put Cole's flagship out of action with battle damage, the Covenant almost always won strategic victories but the UNSC would make them pay with murderous losses planet side and would usually damage every single Covenant warship in orbit in some manner. Sure we would save a colony here and their, but the Covenant would always return and glass it." Amirah replied sighing and shaking her head.

"That was the most annoying part, some of the Covenant battle formations were just so damned effective against UNSC formations that we just couldn't counter them without suffering horrific losses. I lost count of how many battles we lost because the fleet just couldn't break Covenant formations." Erica said bitterly, remembering many a battle where the fluid Covenant formations that alternated ships almost constantly to keep shield strength up had caused UNSC formations to simply break apart under a relentless onslaught of shielded ships that were constantly cycling out to keep ships with fresh shields taking most of the fire from human ships while making said ships whittle away under a hailstorm of energy weapons fire.

"I can't imagine. You and Barkhorn were the space fighter jocks among us, I was the SF operator, and everyone else were regular ground pounders. Let me tell you though, after I heard that they had survived Szurdok Ridge I wanted to give them a medal. Mainly because well, their platoon had stormed a Covenant Forward Command Post, managed to take it, then they survived the orbital bombardment from the _Long Night of Solace_. It takes skill to do something like that." Amirah said with a shudder, she knew the effects of a localized Covenant orbital bombardment better than anyone. Having been caught in several of them herself and having seen hundreds of others from a distance, but the ship responsible was usually a Covenant Cruiser. The fact that the ship responsible for the orbital bombardment was a fucking _CSO_ class Megacarrier, well considering the armament that thing had it was incredibly brutal.

"Just the fact that they managed to survive that orbital bombardment is incredible in itself." Erica said with trepidation, orbital bombardments always resulted in extremely heavy casualties.

"Aye, it is incredible. But Minna was never the same after the war ended. The sight of as much death and destruction that occurred during the Fall of Reach, the Battle of Earth, and the Battle of Installation 00. It left an impression on her, of course the losses that the unit she was in suffered probably didn't help matters." Amirah said, remembering how Minna had changed despite the fact she didn't even fight the genocidal alien alliance that was the Covenant for even a fraction of the time that she had and it had left her broken spiritually.

Erica's face grew melancholic. "Yeah, that's true. Minna was never the same after the end of The Great War, but then again the same is true for Yoshika; after Installation 04 she wasn't the same." she said.

But Erica knew that the reason that Minna had been left broken after the Human-Covenant War went deeper than just all of the death and destruction she had seen. It was also the other major horror of the war and the passing of several good friends at the hands of the aliens and the other major horror of the war.

She glanced at the clock and sighed. "It's time to get ready to go. We still have lots of time, but you know how the usual place we go to for this is like. It's quiet but there are fellow veterans there who would want to exchange war stories." Erica said after some time, standing and stretching.

"Yeah, might as well get going." Amirah said doing the same.

Memories about the war were for the most part painful, but there were some that while painful they were worth telling because of a number of reasons. The fact that it was your first battle was one of them.

* * *

 **AN: Thus another chapter bites the dust. Hoped you all liked the flashback chapter. It was an idea for an experiment to help fill in the holes that have happened to the members of the 501st JFW who have been in the Halo Universe for decades rather than a year.**

 **One thing of note, the** _ **Armor**_ **class Carrier comes from the Macross/Robotech, while the majority of the Babylon 5 ships came from both MarcusStarkiller and GAT-X139 on Deviantart and were used with permission.**

 **Anything to add General?**

 **Nothing really besides that we hope you enjoyed this chapter and this story thus far.**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: So here we go, this will be a normal chapter of Strike Witches: The Fall of Reach.**

 **Also we are going to be putting together a Codex of sort on various topics.**

 **Anything to add General?**

 **Ready Main Battery Guns and get ready to fire.**

* * *

 **1750 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **In slipspace enroute to Reach Military Installation**

 **Onboard UNSC** _ **Leviathan**_ **CA-395**

Admiral Stanforth sighed, it seemed that whenever the Human-Covenant War couldn't get anymore strange or interesting. Something happened that proved him wrong. The woman sitting across from him was just further proof of that. He still couldn't believe it, the fact that his ship actually had a spirit, oh sure he had heard the Chief Engineer say that _Leviathan_ was different from other _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruisers, but he hadn't believed it.

Of course, apparently his ship wasn't the only one either, Captain Keyes had reported that _Iroquois_ had also manifested and apparently after pleasantries had been exchanged, the Heavy Destroyer had voiced her displeasure about scraping the prow of a Covenant _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyer and also straight up ramming a Covenant Stealth Ship.

That had gotten a chuckle from him, although to be fair to Keyes. He probably deserved it, mainly because the maximum engagement range of UNSC ships was about one hundred twenty thousand kilometers with effective range starting at eighty thousand kilometers, anything closer than fifteen thousand kilometers being considered brawling range, with anything closer than five thousand kilometers being considered point-blank range.

Until now that is, he had to admit, the spirit of _Leviathan_ cut quite the figure. She was about 6 feet plus, likely around 3 inches to 5 inches to add to that. She had long blonde hair that reached her lower back, near her hips to precise. She also had blue eyes though Stanforth noticed that the iris were in those were not normal as they were golden stars, one in each eye.

He then looked at her face as a whole and it was he suspected many girls will envy as it was what many called perfection. There was no blemishes, no scars no imperfection on her fair skin. Stanforth stopped himself from looking any further fearing it would further unnerve the woman that sat across him. Stanforth then looked at her attire, it was the UNSC Naval Service Dress Uniform, minus any officer's insignias or emblems. Though she did have the medals that were awarded to the ship clipped onto her uniform as well as a rainbow of campaign ribbons. He could also see that the uniform is not in top condition as it was roughened up. It was then it dawned on him that the patches of damage, the burns and stains on her uniform correlated with damages sustained on the ship itself but besides that despite Leviathan was in a uniform, Stanforth could tell that she was quite muscular, judging from how tight the uniform around her arms. Though Stanforth can already tell that many men and some women would probably be looking at how well the uniform shows her figure, it wasn't hard to not see the large bosom she had or how shapely her hips were. She was as one sailor describe her, an amazon of a woman.

"Wait" Leviathan's captain, Peter Watson, finally found the words to say, "What did you say your name was?"

"Captain Peter Watson, my name is UNSC Leviathan, sir." Leviathan said.

"That's a very odd name to have and no first name at that." Stanforth interjected.

"Well sirs, that is the name the UNSC gave me, why would I have any other name?" Leviathan replied.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Peter asked.

"Sir, you should know, you were there when they commissioned me. I still remember that champagne bottle nearly slipping out of your daughter's hand" Leviathan said to the Stanforth as her lips curled up as she recalled that memory. Stanforth on the other hand, raised an eyebrow as not many knew of the near failure his daughter had at Leviathan's launching ceremony. If he recalled it was only ten people that knew and Stanforth knew these people well enough that they won't tell a soul. So for this woman to know would only lead to one conclusion.

"So you really are the manifestation of the spirit of this warship." Stanforth said.

"Yes Admiral, I am the manifestation of your flagship." Leviathan said.

"So how did it happened?" Peter asked.

"Well sirs, it is a difficult thing to explain, it may take a while." Leviathan said.

"Well, we do have all day," Stanforth said as he leaned in, "So I hope you are comfortable, Leviathan."

"Y-Yes admiral." Leviathan forced herself to smile as she groaned internally and cursed her luck that Admiral Stanforth was the former head of the ONI.

* * *

 **1120 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1320 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Reach Orbital Shipyards**

The Reach Orbital Shipyards were always a sight to behold, the yards were dominated by numerous construction and repair docks plus several large space stations that had numerous docking bays for ships that ranged from corvettes all the way to dreadnoughts. These yards were capable of churning out nearly one hundred ships a month to fight the Covenant.

In one of the docks however sat a ship that at the start of The War was considered old. The ship was a _Hillsborough_ class Destroyer and one of the first run ships to boot, the ship lacked the distinctive arrowhead profile of the newer four hundred eighty five meter long _Halberd_ class, five hundred sixty meter long _Midlothian_ class, or the 610 meter long _Iroquois_ class Destroyers. Instead from a distance she looked more like a cruiser with her distinctive brick like appearance and would be forgiven for assuming that she was a _Halcyon_ class Light Cruiser, but as one got closer they would see that she wasn't.

Her hull was thinner and shorter than the _Halcyon_ class Light Cruiser measuring a mere five hundred forty-eight meters in length and two hundred thirty-five meters wide and three hundred twenty meters tall thanks to her ventrally mounted bridge, she was armored with one and half meters of carbon-nanotube reinforced Titanium-C Battleplate, while her armament contained vestiges of the time when the UNSC used predominantly laser weapons for she had three massive turrets that each mounted a pair of powerful laser cannons, with two mounted dorsally and one mounted ventrally, the ship also mounted an array of coilguns, point-defense guns, a few CIWS emplacements, numerous Fusion Archer Missile Pods, four Harpoon Nuclear Missiles, and ship's singular MAC gun lay at roughly the halfway point up the ship's bow. What armor hasn't been replaced with new plating to repair battle damage was pitted and scorched the only armor that remained that was original was near the ship's stern where the ship's reactor spaces were.

Speaking of her reactors, they were older technology as well as in older than the second generation Deuterium-Helium-Three Fusion Reactors on the old _Halcyon_ class Light Cruisers, her reactors were first generation Deuterium-Helium-Three Reactors, produced by Siemens Westinghouse Power Generation and by this point they were so old, having been overhauled multiple times they were as close to the specifications of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mark VI CDHE3F reactor plant that was currently installed on _Halberd_ class Destroyers as they could get, not without ripping out the entire reactor and putting a new one in. But the reactor output was only a fraction of what the Mitsubishi reactor could generate. Despite that though, it was agreed that the Siemens Westinghouse reactor was _way more durable_ , German engineering at it's finest.

Not that it would have mattered. This ship had been in over a dozen campaigns and had seen her DESRON decimated over three-quarters of the time. Go in with nine destroyers and come out with at most four still slipspace worthy, sometimes this ship would be the only survivor. It had demoralized the crew badly; it didn't help matters that during the Battle of Fumirole that it had seen two things happen, the first was that the _Diligence_ class was reduced to one member that was still in active service and the second was that the longest surviving _Halberd_ class Destroyer in their DESRON, the UNSC _Fubuki_ had finally been destroyed after serving with them for seven years.

Near the prow of the ship, emblazoned in white, outlined in black so it would stand out against the matte grey of the ship's hull. That name was in a block lettering and it spelled out _Mutsuki_. The old destroyer had been through much, oh how she'd been through much.

She'd seen over forty different colonies burn under plasma bombardment reduced to a cinder, had heard the death scream of easily hundreds of ships as they burned under the ruthless onslaught of Covenant weaponry. But none had cut as deep into her soul as Fubuki's scream had as three plasma torpedoes had sliced through what had remained of her bolt on refractive ablative armor and had burned through her hull with extreme ease, simply gutting her. Sooner or later her luck would run out and she would be reunited with her old DESRON mates. It would be a good day when that happened. At this point, she wouldn't mind taking a suicide op. If only so she could see her DESRON mates again.

Looking through her sensors, she could see another ship gliding through space with a purpose. The ship was big, easily over six hundred meters long, it had a glimmering matte black paint scheme, it's hull was bristling with the distinctive antenna of Phalanx Pulse Laser turrets, Helix 50mm MLA CIWS mounts, the recessed barrels of a dual MAC battery, multiple turrets containing dual 15cm coilguns, multiple Oversized Fusion Archer Missile pods each containing sixty missiles, several nuclear missile silos and launch tubes, the way the ship moved it was one of eagerness. Mutsuki knew immediately that it was one of those new fangled _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyers. They were always the same: overconfident and eager, ready to prove themselves at a moment's notice.

She hated it so much, mainly because it reminded her; painfully at that at how she felt before her first battle with the Covenant. She was so confident that she would be able to go head-to-head with their warships, she had heard the rumors floating around about the fact that Covenant warships had energy shields, honest-to-god energy weapons, lasers that were more powerful than anything the UNSC had ever used and had the ability to be switched from an anti-ship mode to a fast-tracking and rapid firing point-defense mode in an instant, armor that was tougher than Titanium-C. She hadn't believed it and thus it had come as a nasty shock when _all of it_ had turned out to be true.

A full Alpha Strike with her MAC, secondaries, laser cannons, and missiles against a Covenant Cruiser some forty-thousand kilometers distant had resulted in something that had shocked her. It swatted over two thirds of the missiles she had fired down and took the shots from her MAC, secondaries, lasers, and the missiles that got through on the chin without a care in a world. A strike that would've at least crippled maybe even destroyed a _Marathon_ class Heavy Cruiser, had been walked off by a cruiser only a little bigger than one of those ships. Then the thing's return fire in the form of pulse lasers and plasma cannon fire wrecked her MAC and two of her laser turrets, not to mention laid open a fifth of her hull to hard vacuum.

It had been horrifying and humbling at the same time. The Covenant really was that horrifically powerful. She knew that this _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyer was going to be like every single goddamned replacement. It was beginning to get old.

Still, she was also curious. She had never served alongside an _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyer before though she had a feeling they were tough bastards, with two meters of AEGIS Battleplate, a hyper advanced sandwich of reversed-engineered Nanolaminate hull armor, Titanium-C, alloys, composite armor, and Carbon Nanotubes; resulting in something that made Titanium-C look pathetic. Not to mention they were probably fast as all hell.

The destroyer was angling upward towards a 'space quay' that was near the one she occupied within the dock. The ship's RCS thrusters fired as her braking thrusters engaged, slowing her velocity and lining her up with the docking clamps. The sleek ship glided into the dock, the destroyer docks were specifically designed to hold a DESDIV, it came up to it's mooring point and arrested all of her forward motion. The clamps descended from above and secured the destroyer in place, it was at this point that she managed to get a good view of the ship's nameplate. It read _Yūdachi_ , interesting name she decided. Not as unique as the names of the two Destroyers she shared this dock with: UNSC _I'll Have Another_ and UNSC _Dawn of Tranquility_ but it was still fairly unique, a _Midlothian_ and _Halberd_ class respectively.

'Oh look, it's a FNS.' I'll Have Another groaned out.

'Great Fucking New Ship, even worse it's some newbie _Iroquois_ class. Fucking arrogant bastards, they think they're hot stuff and the kings of the fucking universe. Well truth is, they aren't hot stuff nor the kings of the fucking universe. They're just more cannon fodder for the brass to throw in front of the Covenant.' Tranquility added.

Mutsuki 'sighed', she had to admit that while _I'll Have Another_ and _Dawn of Tranquility_ were okay company they didn't hold the _Iroquois_ class in the highest regard. It was how she felt when the _Halberd_ class first entered service after all, she was in the same place oh so many years ago. Now however, she was used to being outperformed by the _Halberd_ and _Midlothian_ class Destroyers as well as being belittled by them for being underpowered, underarmored, undergunned, and just plain obsolete.

Of course, she did have a breaking point, if any ship dared to say that she should've been scrapped years ago. She would tell them, in not so many words that the only reason she was still in service was because while she was out-dated she was still somewhat effective against Covenant Warships was thanks to her MAC gun, her Fusion Archer Missiles, and her nukes.

Of course what got her undivided attention was when _Yūdachi_ responded to the quips by the two _Halberd_ and _Midlothian_ class. 'Do you greet every single new ship that enters this dock in that manner?' she asked in a casual tone.

Mutsuki allowed a slight 'grin' as the _Halberd_ and _Midlothian_ class 'blanched' in response to _Yūdachi_ 's quip. The two ships were obviously a bit stunned at just how laid back this _Iroquois_ class Heavy Destroyer was. It was a welcome change from the norm, still that didn't change the fact that _Yūdachi_ was relatively fresh meat and thus had no idea what it was like to engage the Covenant.

Still it was her duty as the most hardened veteran here to help set the record straight. 'The _Halberd_ and _Midlothian_? Yeah, they practically greet all new ships that enter this dock that way. But then again, those two are pretty much the assholes of the DESDIV and they gave me some trouble. You learn to filter it out after a while.' Mutsuki said calmly.

' _Hey!_ ' The two other destroyers snarled in unison. 'Not funny Mutsuki, not funny at all!'

'But despite their faults, I'll Have Another and Dawn of Tranquility will grow on you. Trust me they will grow on you despite the fact that they are assholes, which they are. But they are good assholes.' Mutsuki said with a calm tone in her 'voice'.

'Good assholes? How can one be a good asshole?' Yūdachi asked confused.

'Don't know, but they somehow manage it.' Mutsuki replied.

'Great' Yūdachi said in an exasperated tone. Then she asked the question that Mutsuki knew was coming. 'So what's it like fighting the Covenant? I mean, these fucking xeno bastards have to be tough if they can kick us the way they have.' she asked.

Mutsuki sighed deeply. 'There ships are incredibly tough, with some ships being so heavily armored that it can take multiple salvoes of secondary battery fire to penetrate their armor but first you got to down their shields which can take insane punishment before failing. Of course, once we do down their shields and penetrate their armor if we are using our secondary battery guns, we just tear them apart. Naturally your main gun and Fusion Archers will penetrate their armor effortlessly and nukes will ruin their day as will Fusion rockets, problem is that their point defenses are insanely good and thus lots of missiles need to be launched in order to have any sort of chance at hitting. Then their is the weapons that they use, I've seen Covenant Warships that are eight hundred meters long turn _Marathons_ into swiss cheese with ease. I don't really want to talk about it.' she said glumly.

'Oh, why is that?' Yūdachi asked curious.

'I've seen my DESRON slaughtered so many times it's not even funny. Go into battle with nine ships and leave the battle space with at most four but there have been times where I was the only survivor in my DESRON. You will see ships die the most painful deaths imaginable and it happens in every battle no matter how small against the bastards.' Mutsuki said weakly, remembering all of the fellow warships-in-arms she had seen die at the hands of the aliens.

'Oh' The _Iroquois_ class responded meeky. She fell silent after that, obviously contemplating everything that the older _Hillsborough_ class had told her.

* * *

 **1145 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **1345 Hours, July 24th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Onboard UNSC** _ **Trafalgar**_ **CV-1206, in orbit**

There weren't many _Punic_ class Supercarriers in active service in the UNSC Navy, at the start of the Human-Covenant War there had been thirty of the powerful goliaths in service. Now though, after twenty-seven years of war, there was only eight of extraordinarily powerful warships left in the fleet, to offset this the older _Thermopylae_ class supercarriers were being brought out of mothballs. Currently at the Reach Orbital Shipyards there was two _Punic_ class Supercarriers under construction with both expected to be finished by October and there was another one under construction at the Mars Orbital Shipyards that was expected to be finished in mid-September.

The reason there was so few ships was extremely simple, each one was a literal mountain of armor, gun batteries, missile batteries, nuclear missile silos and tubes, and Aerospace Craft support facilities. UNSC _Trafalgar_ CV-1206 was no exception to the rule, she was 4,000 meters long, 850 meters wide, and 750 meters tall. Her main battery was composed of a single _CR-03, Series-8 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon_ and two _Mark XVII - Super-Heavy Coil,_ _28B16R10/MAC_ , her secondary gun batteries were composed of thirty-six twin-mounted _Mark 2525/46cm HRG_ mounts, an improved variant of the _Mark 2457/35cm HRG_ and twenty _11A2R1 15cm, quad-barreled naval coilgun batteries_ ,while for her missile armament there was no less than two hundred-fifty five Oversized Fusion Archer Missile Pods each containing sixty missiles for a total of 15,300 Fusion Archers, plus there was enough silos for forty _Shiva_ class Nuclear Missiles, as well as nuclear launch tubes for the ship's complement sixty Hellstorm Missiles each tipped with a thirty megaton _Perseus_ class nuke for stopping incoming plasma torpedoes, for point-defense the _Trafalgar_ had recently finished an overhaul which had seen her one-hundred twenty Defender Pulse Laser Turrets replaced by Phalanx pulse laser turrets, for CIWS the ship could now rely on her seventy-two twin 50mm MLA Helix guns in the role they were supposed to be, in addition to that she had two dozen Streak Missile Pods. In her massive hanger bays lay a combination of one-hundred Longsword Fighters and Rapier Interceptors, seventy-five F-41 XSMF Broadsword Multi-roles, forty Longsword Bombers, twenty-five Claymore Support Fighters, fifty Pelican Dropships of either the D77-TC, D77-TCI, or D-78-TC variety, ten D96-TCE Albatross Dropships, five D82-EST Darter Dropships, and two D80-LRT Condor Dropships. Within the carrier's ventral landing bay were four _Stalwart_ class Air-Defense Frigates and two _Paris_ class Heavy Frigates. The ship was also extremely well armored with no less than _ten_ meters of carbon nanotube reinforced Titanium-C along with two and half meters of refractive ablative armor that was proven to work decently well against dispersing plasma torpedoes, plasma cannon, pulse laser shots.

The overall appearance of the ship was that of a brick, but on both the port and starboard sides, lay a massive flightdeck with hanger that was roughly two and half kilometers in length and contained the ammienties for the ship's immense aerospace wing, the most forward section was heavily armored and blended into the hull near seamlessly, in fact the entirety of the flightdeck/hanger blended into the hull near seamlessly. The ship's bow was marked by the three large muzzles, the muzzle of the _CR-03, Series-Eight Magnetic Accelerator Cannon_ stood out dramatically being nearly 27-meters in diameter while her two _Mark XVII - Super-Heavy Coil,_ _28B16R10/MAC_ s each had a muzzle that was 10-meters in diameter and four nuclear launch tubes for her Hellstorm missiles, while adorning the ship's flanks were many Fusion Archer Missile Pods, Phalanx Pulse Lasers, 50mm MLA Helix guns, plus silos for _Shivas_ and launch tubes for Hellstorms, not to mention her heavy secondary battery. Adoring her hanger bay flanks were three rows of launch tubes, stacked on top of each other, for her massive aerospace wing. These ships had a crew of roughly eight thousand sailors and airmen with a full UNSC Marine Regiment of 3,200 men and women for shipboard security.

These ships always had a battle group of about thirty warships with them at all times and said battle group was composed of a mix of Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, and occasionally Battleships and Battlecruisers. These ships often served as fleet flagships and while command of regular shipboard operations fell to the ship's captain, an O-6 usually, the one in charge of the Carrier Battle Group and coordinating fleet actions was at least an O-8 but normally were O-9s or O-10s.

It was something that made former United Rebel Front now Human Systems Alliance Admiral Steven Hackett rather jealous. The closest thing the URF now the Human Systems Alliance had to the _Punic_ class Supercarrier would probably be the odd _Thermopylae_ class Supercarrier that they had stolen from the Mothball yards, but it was a previous generation UNSC Warship and like the old _Hillsborough_ class used a mix of magnetic, missile, and laser weaponry. Plus their armor was nowhere near as thick as it was on the _Punic_ nor was it as heavily armed, one would probably last about five seconds, maybe a minute at most against a _Punic_ class that was pissed off.

But the reason he was on the _Trafalgar_ was simple, he had to discuss with Admiral Spruance of the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet the ramifications of the URF reforming itself into the Human Systems Alliance and what it meant for future relations. It was a discussion that he _wasn't_ looking forward too, for the sole reason that he _hated_ politics.

"Ah, Hackett" Spruance said as he stood up to greet Hackett as he was entering the Admiral's quarters on the _Trafalgar_ , "Good to have you here."

"Thank you, Spruance," Hackett replied before he sighed, "Alright what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"It has to do with the URF." Spruance answered.

"What has the URF done?" Hackett asked.

"Well it is more on that URF has changed as an organization." Spruance said.

"What do you mean by that?" Hackett asked confused.

"What I mean Hackett, that we can't just look at the URF as a bunch of rebelling colonies all with different agendas. That was true in early stages of the rebellion however now, they are organized, they have what is needed to be a proper political body, their own laws, constitution, taxes and government." Spruance said.

"What are you trying to say, Spruance?" Hackett inferred as he wasn't too sure what Spruance was talking about.

"What I am saying Hackett, is that the UNSC can't treat the URF like a rebel force but instead they are going to have treat them like a proper political power." Spruance said. "We will need to negotiate with them as they are now a legitimate power and that would mean we will have to accept that some of those colonies are no longer colonies." Spruance stated, dropping quite the bombshell with a straight face. Hackett made a mental note to never play poker with the woman.

"So?" Hackett asked, "What does it have to do with me?"

"It means that your word has more weight to it now and that also means you are a legitimate successor for my position on the _Trafalgar_."

"Well I be damned…" Hackett said as he raised an eyebrow at Spruance's statement. This was incredible and quite frankly changed everything, because now he had more say in meetings. That was drastically important because he could lend his own experience and ideas, which instead of being merely brushed aside would probably be considered now. But the fact that he was now in the line of succession for CO of the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet now raised some new questions.

"So wait, since I am now in line for succession of command of the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet, where am I exactly?" Hackett asked somewhat curious.

"Currently, depending on the situation and how many Admirals are in orbit. At best your third in succession, we'll get the whole thing sorted out. Although you should see the chaos that is HIGHCOM, both here on Reach and on Earth. Just about everyone is scrambling to figure out how to implement the various URF now Human Systems Alliance units into order of battle. For me it's simple, your ships tend to have a higher thrust-to-mass ratio for some reason when compared to our ships which means you would be perfect for a Quick-Reaction Force in terms of plugging holes." Spruance said.

"That could work, but my ships don't have the same durability that your do. Partially because they only have a little bit of Titanium-C Battleplate and rely more on composite armor. But I am pretty sure you've read the after-action reports from Sigma Octanus IV, Human Systems Alliance Vessels their armor held up decently, not as good as the refractive ablative armor and Titanium-C that your ships use, but it kept lighter stuff, Plasma cannon rounds out pretty effectively. But it struggled against Particle Cannons and Plasma Torpedoes." Hackett said with a nod of understanding.

"Our armor doesn't really do well against Particle Cannons and Plasma Torpedoes either. What makes armoring against Plasma Torpedoes so hard is because several things happen when they hit, first they transfer a large amount of their kinetic energy to the target, second thanks to their high heat the armor which is already trying to stop the kinetic impact fails, then once it gets in the ship you have high heat plasma fires which begin to burn through the ship, plus you know the thermal shock damage." Spruance said, citing the reasons why armoring against Plasma Torpedoes was incredibly difficult.

"I will grant you that, Plasma Torpedoes are incredibly difficult to defeat because of their nature. Compensate for one thing and another issue pops up. While with Particle Cannons as well as Energy Projectors, both fire particles near or at the speed of light and thus you have insane kinetic energy combined with high heat and it's all focused at pinpoint. Not much can withstand a direct hit like that if anything." Hackett replied nodding in understanding.

"Exactly, however I think that my forces would also be rather good for harassing, channel them into a killzone and then we will have the bastards. Because we could then pin them between the ODPs, Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet, the Imperial Krogan Forces on the flanks, and with my fleet behind them. There would be no way they could break out of that killbox, easily at least." Hackett said.

"That is a good point, being able to use something like Cruisers instead of Frigates or Destroyers as harassers, it means that ships on that task will have a higher chance of surviving thanks to their better armor and greater firepower." Spruance said thinking about it.

"Question is what ships do the Covenant have that would give that sort of plan a lot of trouble?" Hackett asked.

Spruance leaned back in her seat. "Quite a number of ships could if deployed properly bust out of a kill box like that and do it quick enough so that they don't lose that many ships. Their Battleships, Dreadnoughts, and Heavy Dreadnoughts for one, _OAS_ class Super Assault Carriers, _Reverence_ class Grand Cruisers, and _CAS_ class Assault Carriers could also do it if their commander is smart in their deployment not to mention sees that he's been suckered into a nasty kill box and can figure out where to focus his attack to break out." she said, steepling her fingers.

"Like that one Elite that your Office of Naval Intelligence has deemed responsible for the Covenant kicking our asses for the most part since the Battle of Psi Serpentis and even before that being the only Covenant fleet commander capable of fighting Admiral Cole to a standstill? What's his name again?" Hackett asked.

"His name is Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, but just about everyone calls him The Destroyer, mainly because we know that he's glassed at least seven worlds and while we're not sure if he glassed Skopje, ONI believes that it was him that commanded the final Covenant assault on our defenses their. Many in HIGHCOM has compared to him to the German 20th Century Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for his hands on approach to fighting and the fact that he can figure out our strategies and tactics on a dime and come up with counter strategies and tactics rather quickly. If his Fleet of Particular Justice comes to Reach with enough ships, we could be in a lot of trouble, mainly because he knows how to deal with powerful human fleets." Spruance said with a tone of sadness with an underlying tone of fear and respect.

"Wait a minute Admiral, do you _fear_ him?" Hackett asked in a worried tone.

"Do I fear him? Yes, I do fear him, mainly because of how ferocious and _devious_ his tactics and strategies are. Before I was given command of the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet, I was the CO of the Twenty-fourth fleet, we locked horns with him and his fleet of seventy strong during the Fonus Campaign. One hundred thirty eight ships went in and less than fifty came out, the bastard was _smart_ , he _knew_ that we would use nukes to disrupt his opening plasma torpedo salvo but that it would take at most ninety seconds for our sensors to reboot because of the EMP and knew that his sensors after a massed nuclear barrage would be in similar straits. So while our sensors and his were in the process of rebooting, he had his fleet's entire aerospace wing do micro-slipspace jumps to "above" the position of my fleet and attack, they tore through the CAP like it wasn't even there and then threw themselves at the fleet before we knew what was happening. I naturally ordered the fleet to switch formations to one better suited for killing single ships and when he saw _that_ he then had his fleet close knife range and they just tore us apart in maybe the course of an hour. I've never forgotten that fact." she said bitterly.

 _Damn, if The Destroyer can pull a victory like that out of his hat. Then he would be problematic._ Hackett thought as he realized the scale of how badly that the UNSC's 24th Fleet had been defeated.

"Is that all Admiral?" Hackett asked.

"For the moment, yes it is. Your dismissed." Spruance said and Hackett stood up, saluted and then walked out of the compartment. Leaving her alone with her thoughts and memories. But with WINTER CONTINGENCY declared, their had to be a Covenant Warship in-system _somewhere_ and once it had launched it's offensive it would likely reveal itself. They needed to find the Covenant landing zone and then hit it hard and then find the warship, kill it, and then prepare for the Covenant fleet that is bound to be coming and send the bastards right back where they came from. She was confident that they could do it, because while a lot of people thought that the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet was composed of just the Reach Defense Force you also had the colonies of Tribute and Beta Gabriel which had their own defense fleets. Reach's Defense Fleet was composed of roughly one hundred fifty capital ships and about two hundred smaller ships, while the colonies of Tribute and Beta Gabriel had defense fleets composed were composed of fifty ships each, fifteen capital ships and thirty-five smaller ships. Now while it was a lot of ships that _should_ have been on the frontlines, Reach and by extension the Epsilon Eridani System was just too goddamned important. The only system that had a bigger defense force was the Sol System with some six hundred warships over Earth alone.

They would suffer losses, sure but she was confident that they could kill any fleet that the Covenant could ever hope to send their way. At least that was the hope, but could they do it with acceptable losses? She didn't know.

* * *

 **0100 Hours, July 25th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **0800 Hours, July 25th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Viery Territory, Near Szurdok Ridge, Forward Operating Base Alpha**

 **20th Infantry Division** _ **Friuli**_ **Deployment**

 **Corporal Mio Sakamoto POV**

FOB Alpha was a simple affair, there was command and support building, some barracks, a large vehicle depot, a number of VTOL pads, numerous SAM and AA batteries, a ring of motion and seismic sensors, anti-tank and anti-infantry mines, not to mention enough automated defense turrets of the machine gun, gauss, and missile variety to make any attack a suicidal endeavour. Surrounding the entire firebase was a defensive wall some seven feet high capped by barbed wire while at every corner of the octagon shaped firebase was a watch tower with several Army Troopers with a big Gauss cannon and Sniper Rifles. All in all, it wasn't a place that would be cracked open easily.

At least I thought so, but if the Covenant brought up a Scarab walker then cracking this place open would be easy. But considering that thanks to the factories on Reach, Mars, Earth, and other UEG planets that were working around the clock producing war material.

All of Grizzly MBTs in the division had now been replaced with the far more powerful Rhino MBT and well I am fairly sure the thing could go head-to-head with whole _battalion_ of tanks back home. I have never seen anything quite as crazy as the Rhino's main gun though, I mean it mounts a high-velocity anti-tank cannon that's the same size as the main guns that the Orussian ISU-152s and KV-2s mount, but unlike those they can actually reach out and touch someone kilometers away with just about pinpoint accuracy.

Of course, some of our Grizzlys had been replaced with Lion's and well the damned things at least in my opinion had more teeth than a goddamned shark. The various machine guns and grenade launchers of which there was quite a few was topped off by a massive helical railgun that just seemed like overkill or punctuation on the anti-Covie tank, I guess. The most unnerving thing in my opinion was that compared to the Rhino was the fact that the Lion was so goddamned _quiet_ , no tank should be as quiet as the Lion is, because the Rhino while it's massive at least it _sounds_ like the monster that it is. The Lion, not so much I swear it's so damned unsettling because a tank shouldn't be so quiet that you wouldn't notice one is coming until it's practically right on top of you.

I turned as I heard the sound of boot on dirt behind me. There was Minna, she didn't have her helmet on but since we were in an FOB and combat wasn't going to be really an issue at least for awhile. So wearing the helmets wasn't really necessary. But I could tell by looking at her face that she had likely just learned something that unnerved her.

"What's wrong, Minna?" I asked.

"Mio, they are using chemical weapons on the Covenant, I just overheard of chemical warfare being conducted in order to slow them down."

"Chemical weapons? Aren't those illegal?" I asked.

"Apparently the rules don't apply when it comes to the Covenant soldiers." Minna guessed.

"But still won't that be dangerous for us?" I asked.

"I think they had made our combat gear be impervious to gas attack" Minna said.

"I better hope so because I don't want to die to a UNSC gas attack." I grumbled under her breath. There was many different types of agents that the UNSC used, from Nerve VX7 and Disulfur Decafluoride among other agents including Anthrax. The effects that they all had while they were different they also weren't pleasant.

"Gas Attack?" Minna and I turned to see Shirley walk up, "What do you mean by that?"

"Shirley." Minna said, "How much did you hear?"

"All of it, Sergeant" Shirley said, "But gas attack? Isn't that a bit extreme?"

"I have nothing to say but it appears that the UNSC needs whatever advantage they get over the Covenant forces?" I said.

"But how can they be sure that no civilians get caught in the gas attack?" Shirley asked.

"I have no idea, I assume they only use them in certain cases" Minna assumed.

"I hope so." Shirley said.

"So Shirley, how are the rest?" I asked.

"The rest are a bit on edge, I am not surprised, they know the hard fight that is coming." Shirley said.

Suddenly with a powerful rumble one of the new Loki SPAAGs rumbled by, a powerful six-by-six vehicle. It had a low slung body and cabin with a large turret that mounted a single impressive looking five-barrelled rotary cannon. Perched atop the turret was a single radar dish that rotated at a fairly decent rate, while mounted on either side was a quad pack of SAMs. The thing could put an entire area on lock down, if it wasn't human then it wouldn't be able to enter a Loki's airspace unless it was out of ammunition.

I whistled at the sight of the vehicle and the two Cougars and the Mako that was trundling behind it. The Cougar was a good-sized vehicle but the biggest downside was how cramped it's troop bay was, made you feel like you were in a Warthog Troop Transport with the enclosed variant of the troop bay. But the Mako was better with a larger troop bay although both vehicles had a slight glass jaw.

I shook off that train of thought and looked at Shirley. "How are you feeling Private about the upcoming campaign?" I asked.

"Honestly Corporal? Like the others on edge, it's no secret that Elite Majors and higher are problematic for regular infantry." Shirley replied shaking her head.

I gave her a _look_. "Alright, I am scared. The Covenant have gigantic fuck-off walkers and we don't have anything that can match it. Then their is the fact that getting hit by a plasma weapon in an area that isn't covered by armored plating is probably going to be fatal." she amended quickly.

That, that was actually how I was feeling. It was no secret that being hit by a plasma bolt would at the very least result in getting severely wounded or at worst being killed. Our armor was good enough for maybe five direct hits tops if you were lucky and that was if the shots connected with the plating. If it didn't well two shots at most and even then the first one would hurt like an utter bastard and would likely incapacitate while the second shot would probably be fatal. I glanced at Minna and saw for just a moment a look of extreme worry flit across her face.

"Shirley," I called to which she turned around towards me, it was then did I noticed that Shirley had been chewing something.

"Hm?" Shirley responded.

"You said everyone was on edge but did any of them said anything to you?" I asked.

"Not really though, Yoshika did have a request." Shirley said.

"What is that?" Minna asked, sounding interested in what Shirley had to say.

"She request that everyone should stop stealing her cigarettes. She is getting rather pissed off." Shirley said.

"Why is that?" Minna asked to which Shirley looked at her funny, "I meant, why is everyone taking her cigarettes?"

"Well Minna, you know how Yoshika hand rolls her own cigarettes right?" Shirley said.

"Yes but what does that have anything to do with her cigarettes being stolen?" Minna asked. Shirley and I were rather surprised that Minna wasn't in the loop about Yoshika's cigarettes but given how she doesn't smoke, I could see why.

"Wait, Minna" Shirley uttered, "You don't know about Yoshika's cigarettes?"

"Well I don't smoke… wait everyone in my squad smokes?" Minna asked in surprise.

"Almost, Perrine and I don't smoke." Mio said.

"My god…" Minna uttered as she looked in disbelief.

"Um… do you still want to know what Yoshika put in her cigarettes?" Shirley asked.

"Just say it." Minna sighed.

"She adds a bit of LSD into her cigarettes." Shirley answered.

"I am sorry, she adds what?" Minna asked, her voice rising, "Say that again, Shirley, what does Yoshika add to her cigarettes?"

"Um… LSD" Shirley said unsurely as Minna glared at her.

"So Yoshika is adding drugs to her cigarettes?" Minna said as she collapses into her chair, "What has become of that young witch that we once knew?"

"She has grown up, Minna just like the rest of us." I said as I moved my rifle to a more comfortable position.

"If anything, Yoshika doesn't uses that much in her cigarettes, she uses very tiny amount." Shirley said.

"How did you know?" Minna asked.

"I have seen and help her roll those cigarettes." Shirley said. I turned to Minna to see her eyes widen and her jaw drop at what Shirley just said. She didn't say anything but she didn't need to, her face was enough to tell us what was on her mind.

* * *

 **0235 Hours, July 25th, 2552 (Reach Calendar)**

 **0935 Hours, July 25th, 2552 (Military Calendar)**

 **Epsilon Eridani System, Eridani II, Planet Reach**

 **Firebase Tango**

Noble Six walked into the armory at Firebase Tango having just done a session at the range with one of the new Systems Alliance Assault Rifles. In his opinion it was a good weapon, it had a solid rate of fire, decent-sized round, a good sized magazine, plus the fact that it used electrically ignited caseless ammunition contained in ninety round quad-stacked magazines meant that you could carry hell of a lot more ammunition than you could with an MA5 or MA6. While the rifle still had a powercell for it's firing system, it was rated for way more rounds than the MA6.

Thus maybe the M-7 Lancer Combat Rifle was something that he could carry on missions. However in terms of appearance the weapon was certainly different from other weapons he had used, the M-7 Lancer showed some similarity to a weapon that had appeared in a video game centuries ago. With a curved upper receiver that also contained a 1.5x smart-link scope, it was bullpup weapon with the powercell that powered the electrical ignition system located in the butt of the weapon. Overall the weapon was roughly the size of an MA6 in length but was a lot thinner than the MA6 was.

Just as he put the rifle back in it's slot in to recharge the battery when he heard someone, from the tone and accent Jorge, mutter something in Hungarian. Curious as to what it was, he looked around and quickly found the S-II at a workbench working on his M247H Heavy Machine Gun, the weapon had suffered some minor damage during the frantic tussle at Viségrad Relay mainly during that final firefight with Covenant forces. The heat shield had suffered some minor damage from a near miss from enemy plasma.

But the damage was nothing that wasn't repairable. That's when he noticed the paint that was on the weapon seemed brighter than it had before the comms relay op. Judging by the cans of paint that were laying on the table, the Spartan-II had probably just finished updating the paint job on the weapon. He also saw that there were a few additions to the paint scheme, the black paint that the weapon had when it had been first issued which had dulled to grey had now been revitalized as had the mostly faded yellow on the heat shield that surrounded the barrel now that it had been fixed but the area towards where the normal grips were also now had yellow paint.

"Hey Jorge." Six greeted as he walked up.

Jorge looked up from his work. "Hello Six, what brings you to the armory? Didn't you come with an MA6?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did. But with the addition of the Human Systems Alliance weaponry, I am curious as to how effective it will be. The massive magazine certainly helps matters, what I don't get is why the guys at weapons development decided to give the MA6 a thirty-six round magazine instead of a sixty round magazine. It makes no-sense at all." Six replied.

"I see, personally I do agree with that fact. But the power cells for the MA6 are only rated for about two-hundred twenty rounds or so give or take a couple before it's depleted. If they were using sixty round magazines, then the damn thing would go empty right in the middle of your fourth magazine because four sixty round magazines gives you two hundred forty rounds. While with thirty-six round magazines you can go through six magazines before you got to replace the power cell, because six magazines containing thirty six rounds gives you roughly two hundred sixteen rounds to fire before you need to replace the power cell. All in all, a pretty brilliant idea when you think about it." Jorge supplied after looking thoughtful for a moment.

"True, something tells me that as our power cell technology improves that we'll be able to have power cells that can allow for firing of more than half of your combat load. Still as it stands it's pretty remarkable." Six said.

"I will agree there. But I got to ask, what's your overall opinion of the M-7? I hadn't had a chance to test it out on the range yet. Been doing maintenance on my gun since we got back from Viségrad Relay." Jorge said.

"Well, the fact that's caseless is a nice feature, means that I can carry a lot more ammunition than I could with an MA5 or MA6 series weapon. Thanks to the fact that the power cell doesn't drain as quickly is also helpful. The fact that it's muzzle velocity is rather high is also pretty damned useful. I mean it won't strip the shields of an Elite as fast as the MA6 can but it can still probably do so fairly rapidly. The balance is a little funky, but it works. Of course the firing sound is unlike anything I've ever heard, it's certainly distinctive." Six said explaining the M-7 in detail.

"What are the basic modules for the weapon? I mean I know it's a modular weapon but it's nice to know what it's capabilities are." Jorge asked.

Six thought about that for a moment, truth be told the M-7 was an excellent modular weapon system. It had several baseline modules, the baseline carbine, a PDW, a Designated Marksman Rifle which was equipped with a 1.5x and 5x smart-link scope, and finally a heavy-barrelled automatic rifle. The baseline the carbine could fit a wide variety of attachments from laser designators to underbarrelled shotguns, although the PDW can only fit a couple of sights. Both the carbine and PDW have a rate of fire of six hundred rounds per minute in full automatic but when using the rifle's four round burst capability that rate of fire went up to over two thousand rounds per minute, while the heavy-barrelled automatic had a rate of fire of nine hundred rounds per minute and a much larger magazine containing some two hundred-fifty rounds of ammunition.

"It's a pretty good weapon, solid rate of fire although it isn't as quick as the MA5 or MA6 in full auto but it's real strength lies in it's burst fire capability because it can achieve an absolutely absurd rate of fire. At least in terms of regarding the Assault Rifle and Carbine modules, both of those modules can also accept the vast majority of the SOPMOD stuff for the MA5 and MA6-series. The DMR module can fit most scope types with the exception of the Oracle series, but a 10-power scope on a DMR is overkill anyways. The heavy barrelled automatic is a SAW in about every way possible, designed to keep the enemy's head down or tear it off it has a rate of fire on par with the MA5-series maybe a little higher plus it has a big magazine too. All of the modules fire a 10x45mm Caseless ammunition which means its got a pretty powerful round." Six said.

Jorge nodded in understanding. He seemed to understand the capabilities from what Six had told him. That's when Jorge decided to throw a curveball at him. "So how's Noble treating you lieutenant?" he asked.

"Overall, pretty good. Although I feel like Kat is giving me a bit of a cold shoulder, Jun well he's friendly and certainly one hell of a shot, Emile is loud and abrasive and doesn't seem too friendly though. Carter well, he's a solid leader and certainly cares for those under his command. But it's a new experience working in a team, that's for sure." Six replied shrugging.

"Good to hear your fitting in. Although, I am not surprised that Kat is giving you the cold shoulder, she blames herself for Thom's death, the previous Noble Six. As does Carter, but to be fair it wasn't their fault. It was a combination of circumstances beyond their control." Jorge said shaking his head.

"I sort of got the gist from the way Kat acted. She didn't seem happy with me being a replacement however I was also sort of expecting it. Carter told me that some members of Noble Team would rather leave the sixth position unfilled." Six said.

"Yeah, Thom was something of a cowboy. But he always did the right thing and he was a good man and contrary to what Colonel Holland thinks, he saved us all from botching an attempt to kill a _CCS_ class Battlecruiser with a nuke." Jorge replied.

"Murphy's law?" Six asked.

"Yes, but on that final day on Fumirole. We had gone through several days of near continuous combat with little sleep. Then it really got hairy when that Battlecruiser showed up, thus Carter came up with a plan to kill that thing. With normal infantry support we were to move in, deliver a nuke and clear the way for evac. But, I guess you could say it was stress or fatigue. We forgot to factor in enemy air support, enemy Banshees five of them swooped in and started strafing us. On the third pass, one of them got lucky with it's fuel rod cannon and crippled Kat, thus Thom went, picked up the nuke and delivered it himself. Saved us all from getting killed, of course then the remaining Covenant launched a counter-attack and they somehow succeeded at booting us out of that godforsaken city." Jorge said in affirmative.

"I noticed that when we discovered the Covenant, you seemed more upset than surprised. Is there any particular reason why?" Six asked.

"While it's bad that the Covenant have discovered Reach, it's worse for me because I was born on this planet. Thus its something of a special place for me." Jorge said shaking his head.

That made sense, given how Jorge reacted to finding the Covenant on Reach. The fact that he was a native to Reach actually made sense. This was much more than just another campaign for the Spartan-II to add to his damned impressive resume, this was a campaign for the fate of his homeworld. Thus he had a reason for being upset, Reach was his home.

"So what is your opinion about the Human Systems Alliance?" Jorge asked.

Underneath his helmet Six raised an eyebrow. He had his own reservations about the Human Systems Alliance, on the one hand it meant that humanity had a second galactic government which would politics ahoy if they won the Human-Covenant War but on the other hand the origins of said government was in the United Rebel Front. All told, he wasn't really sure what to think, but considering that they were willing to send their own ships and men into meat grinder said something else though. That they were willing to help the UEG was really saying something.

"Personally I am not sure. On the one hand, the roots of the Human Systems Alliance comes from the United Rebel Front a sworn enemy of the United Earth Government and technically would make them an enemy of the state. On the flipside it all but solves our problem with the insurrection, they've managed to create an independent government with its own constitution, laws, rights, etc. Then again I've never been a stickler for politics, sure you can point me at a Covenant CP or Innie cell and I'll dismantle it in short order but politics? I'd rather go hand-to-hand with a War Chieftain wielding a Gravity Hammer then deal with politics." Six said bluntly.

Jorge chuckled slightly. "I agree, I would rather face a Gravity Hammer wielding War Chieftain then do politics. It's just too complicated and well to hectic for me too follow what with all the various tricks in the trade." he said.

That was a fact Spartans would rather face impossible odds rather than deal with politics. Mainly because their training meant that they were more suited for the combat battlefield rather than the political battlefield. It was just too drastically different from what they were used too.

Still, it was interesting to say the least. Considering everything, but Six was content to leave the politics to the politicians and fighting to the ground pounders like himself. Even if he was _technically_ Navy, he was a ground-pounder. Regardless he like other Spartans were soldiers first, warriors second, and morale support third. That was how Spartans worked they were soldiers, warriors, and when they appeared on the battlefield the morale of everyone went up to new heights and soldiers who previously had been too scared after several hours of combat to the point that they couldn't so much level a pistol would stand up, grab a rifle or whatever was on hand, and follow a Spartan into the depths of hell and back. Mainly because the appearance of a Spartan would mean your chances of survival has just gone up by at least a hundred percent.

They were humanity's trump card against the Covenant on the ground. But while Spartans almost always won on the ground but the problem was they couldn't take the fight up stairs into orbit. Sure they were trained extensively on every single piece of equipment that the UNSC operated from tacpads up to even the weapon systems on UNSC Warships, there just wasn't enough Spartans to go around. Thus they were deployed where they could make the most difference, on the ground.

* * *

 **9th Age of Reclamation**

 **Covenant Holy City of High Charity**

The structure was massive in nearly every sense of the word. It was mushroom shaped, the massive spindly spire that lay below the dome was thick with hundreds of docking ports for various ships. The total length of the structure was over five hundred kilometers and diameter was just under three hundred fifty kilometers. This place was the very heart of the Covenant Empire, a massive mobile city/battlestation/shipyard/capital, the Holy City of High Charity.

Surrounding the monstrous construct, dwarfed to the point that they appeared as silver and purple minnows was hundreds upon hundreds of ships of an enormous variety of types escorts ranging from tiny two hundred twenty five meter long Cutters to eighteen hundred meter long light carriers, cruisers ranging from the ubiquitous seventeen hundred meter long battlecruisers to smaller twelve hundred meter long light cruisers, to fifteen hundred meter strike cruisers, and finally two thousand meter long armored cruisers, then there were the eight hundred pound gorillas that were the capital ships there was dozens upon dozens of Battleships, Dreadnoughts, Heavy Dreadnoughts, Heavy Cruisers, Carriers, Grand Cruisers, Assault Carriers, Heavy Assault Carriers, Supercarriers, and Megacarriers all moved in highly efficient patrol patterns around the Capital of the Covenant Empire.

There was no such thing as a blind spot in these patrols, sensors reached out and could detect anything that could be a threat up to a light hour away and in slipspace, deployed when High Charity exited slipspace were probes that were deployed and could see far into slipstream. Besides the fleet itself, High Charity had shields that were powered by the Forerunner Dreadnought and could repel the impact of a medium sized moon or hundreds of human SMAC rounds without a care in the world and the thing was armed with more energy projectors, particle cannons, and powerful plasma javelins -a newly developed weapon system that was starting to replace the plasma cannons and particle cannons on warships- than one could shake a fist full of credits at.

Anything that was bigger than a millimeter that drifted into this massive defense force was instantly targeted and obliterated by either pulse laser, particle beam, or plasma fire. More to that matter, any incoming ship even if it was a Megacarrier, if it failed to send proper clearance codes within a millisecond of being hailed would suffer the same fate, burned from the heavens in a fiery malestorm of energy sending those aboard to the next life to await The Great Journey. These clearance codes that allowed for access to _High Charity_ space was updated every hour on the hour without fail.

At first all of this security may seem like complete and utter _overkill_ , but considering that High Charity was home to the entirety of the ruling council of the Covenant Empire plus it was one of the Empire's main locations for R&D, warship production, weapon production, vehicle production, and the training of soldiers. This made High Charity so incredibly important that demanded such security measures and nothing less.

Within the massive dome of High Charity was a city that put all others in the known Galaxy to shame. It was a massive multi-leveled city with a population of over thirty billion sentients, billions of what the humans called Elites, Brutes, Jackals, Skirmishers, Drones, Grunts, Engineers, and Prophets.

Inside the headquarters for the Ministry of Resolution, the Covenant's equal to humanity's HIGHCOM, the Minister of Resolution a San'Shyuum looked at the most current After Action Report from the Acting Fleet Master in command of the Fleet of Solemn Accord with disgust and surprise. He was beginning to see why the Sangheili considered the filth that was humanity as worthy opponents, only about eight ships had survived the battle and even the most relatively intact vessel to survive had been hit by those damnable human anti-ship missiles which had laid her bow open with relative ease. The Ministry of Resolution's job was to serve political oversight to the military but it also served effectively as the big boss for the Covenant Military alongside the Imperial Grand Admiral of the Navy and the Grand Imperial Field Marshal of the Army, thus the Minister of Resolution made the political decisions while the Imperial Grand Admiral of the Navy Juto 'Kralkamee and Grand Imperial Field Marshal of the Army Daze 'Zacamee made the military ones. Today though he was meeting with Juto 'Kralkamee to discuss what to do about new developments and he had a meeting planned with Daze 'Zacamee as well later in the Daily Cycle.

The Minister of Resolution was relatively young for his species, only seventy years of age, with light brown skin and violet eyes, at full height he stood at seven feet two inches. The fact that he was the Minister of Resolution despite how young he was was incredible in itself, not to mention unlike most San'Shyuum he maintained an active life of exercise and preferred stronger gravity. The fact that he was the first-born son to a Prelate also had a hand in that because it meant he was stronger and less frail than most San'Shyuum were. He also got along relatively well with his primary counterpart and had also learned quite a bit about both space and ground military strategy and tactics from both his father and Juto 'Kralkamee.

However, one thing that Resolution had to admit that the armor of Imperial Grand Admiral of the Navy was extremely impressive, it was similar to the armor of the Imperial Admiral, but the primary color of the armor was platinum and it was covered in gold Forerunner glyphs. The fact that Juto 'Kralkamee was ten units tall before you threw in his armor made him an absolutely intimidating sight to behold. Then you threw in the fact that he was roughly eighty years old and unlike many Sangheili had no qualms about going to medical to receive treatment for injuries and other medical needs made him unique among Sangheili.

It was a system that worked well and unlike the pure unthinking apes that were the Jiralhanae, the Sangheili were absolutely brilliant strategic and tactical planners, thus making them _ideal_ for warfare in both space and on the ground. Still, the one thing that had Resolution worried was the fact that there was more and more Jiralhanae controlled ships appearing in frontline fleets. Worse, most of the redeployment orders had been made personally by the High Prophet of Truth, he was to borrow a phrase from the humans a "scheming bastard" even by San'Shyuum standards. Truth was up to something and he was sure that he wouldn't like it at all.

"In all honesty, I am not surprised we lost to the humans at Sigma Octanus IV. The fleets we sent in were equipped predominantly for an excavation and not combat. They weren't prepared to fight a full fleet of human warships and thus got taken apart pretty badly. They also used a brilliant new tactic on us, which allowed them to get in an extra salvo from their primitive but effective main weapons without suffering any losses, they used a refit and repair station as a sacrificial shield to get that fleet the extra salvo. Something tells me thanks to that station it was the deciding factor in the battle and the Jiralhanae Fleet Master didn't see it until it was too late." Juto growled as he read his own copy of the AAR.

"The High Prophet of Truth said that it would be easy to exterminate humanity. Now nearly twenty-seven solar cycles later it feels like we're getting nowhere. We are still producing ships yes, but the humans have also seriously ravaged the Navy. Even I am beginning to wonder if this Holy Crusade to exterminate defilers of holy relics is worth it. Particularly when you consider how many ships we have lost, nearly all of the first generation Battlecruisers have been destroyed and the humans have ripped the various frigate, cutter, and corvette generations to pieces. Just by reading AARs, even I know that our Frigates are nothing more than death traps when in combat against the humans. The same goes for the _ADP_ class escorts and _DAS_ class Storm Cutters as well as our corvettes, they just don't have the staying power to engage human warships and come out on top." Resolution said with apprehension.

Juto grunted. "The humans at the start of this war didn't know how to fight in space that effectively, now in the 27th Solar Cycle of this war, they've learned enough and have adapted enough that they are stalmating our offensives more and more. The fact that the Imperial Krogan Confederation has allied with them, isn't helping matters, had their just been a few more Krogan warships at the human world of Piebos, they probably would've stopped The Fleet of Particular Justice dead in its tracks. As it stands they managed to give The Supreme Commander's flagship a bit of a pounding." He said.

"We also got a report from the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, it was sent to the Hierarchs. But they've sent it to us, mainly because it seems that Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee of the _Long Night of Solace_ while on the hunt for holy relics has found a massively fortified human world. From what human transmissions he has intercepted and sent to us, this human world is called Reach, their are also two other human worlds in system called Tribute and Beta Gabriel respectively.." Resolution said, pulling up the report in question.

Juto looked at the report for a couple of minutes. He then looked up and split his mandibles in a way that very remincist of a human grin. "This is prefect, we can cripple their ship-building capability if we burn down this world. Not to mention destroy a large part of there surviving fleet. Look at all of these Heavy Cruiser, Battleship, and Carrier analogues and by the Prophets one of their Supercarrier analogues and four of their dreadnought analogues. Still, _forty_ of those thrice-damned Orbital Guns, that place is a fortress. We can take it, but it won't be easy. The same goes for the human world of Tribute ten of those Orbital guns plus a fifty ship strong defense fleet but strangely Beta Gabriel doesn't have any Orbital guns just a fifty ship defense fleet." he said bluntly.

"I was thinking the exact same thing, this is our chance to finally bring our boot down on humanity and squash them like the bugs they are. Exterminate them and any hope that they have by destroying what is likely their greatest fortress world outside of their home system. I sense that this war is finally reaching it's righteous conclusion." Resolution said weariness at the ongoing war evident but also relief that the end was probably finally in-sight.

"However first will have to whittle those defenses down, burn those orbital platforms from the sky one by one. But we're going to take losses doing it, substantial losses. Mostly thanks to those Orbital Guns, we know for a fact that those things don't give a damn about shields, even on our capital ships. Meirdan taught us that." Juto said and the Minister nodded in agreement, human Orbital Defense Platforms were damned powerful things even by Covenant standards with their capability to crack even the mightiest of Covenant Heavy Dreadnoughts open like an egg and still have the power to destroy anything unfortunate enough to be behind even a Heavy Dreadnought before crippling a third ship.

"The question is how do we do it?" Resolution said looking at the report.

"Leave that to me, the final stage of the offensive will involve Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadameee's Fleet of Particular Justice and probably at least one other fleet, but we're going to hit with a fairly large fleet first. The Fleet of Righteous Vigilance has recently completed an overhaul cycle, that fleet is the second fleet to have their particle cannons removed and replaced with Plasma Javelins. They hit harder than plasma cannons and simulations have shown that they'll be more effective than plasma cannons against human warships. Honestly though it's the Imperial Krogan warships that I am worried about, the armor on those ships is really dense and extremely refractive. It's designed to take multiple hits from plasma weaponry and remain intact, granted it won't stop an energy projector hit. But those ships are so compartmilized that they can take a hit or two from those weapons. Still we can send the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance to reinforce Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee." Juto said still wearing that grin that Resolution found a bit unsettling.

"The Fleet of Righteous Vigilance, if I am right that one has the recently promoted Fleetmaster Xag 'Mdazumee and the Prophet of Conviction and has something like seventy-five ships in it if I remember right." Resolution said looking thoughtful.

Juto nodded. "That's the one, it's got a _SAO_ class Dreadnought as it's flagship, along with four _CAS_ class Assault Carriers, ten _ORS_ class Heavy Cruisers, two _DDS_ class Carriers, two _OSS_ class Battleships, ten _CCS_ class Battlecruisers, eight _SCP_ class Strike Cruisers, eight _CSV_ class Light Cruisers, seven _CPV_ class Heavy Destroyers, five _CRS_ class Patrol Cruisers, two _VDA_ class Light Carriers, ten _RPV_ class Light Destroyers, and five _DSC_ class Support Ships. That should be enough to at least reinforce the ground presence that 'Barutamee is bound to have already established on Reach. Problem is we can't use our normal tactic of punching a hole in the orbital grid then have the Assault Carriers rush said gap, they would just get cut to pieces. Thus the fleet is going to have to come out in low orbit, then the Assault Carriers and some of the Battlecruisers are going to have to go down into atmosphere quick while the rest of the fleet engages and tries to get some breathing room. I don't think they'll last long though and I wouldn't blame Fleetmaster Xag 'Mdazumee if he disengages to prevent his fleet from being gutted." he said as he began to piece together an offensive plan.

"Considering how major of a military hub Reach appears to be, if 'Barutamee is forced to reveal himself since he's cloaked to hide from human sensors and thus being annihilated in a storm of cannon and missile fire that will make the loss of _Reaper of Fervor_ look like a firework show. That said, they'll likely call in a large portion of their fleet like they did at human world of Skopje. We could use this to our advantage. The humans will recall most of their fleet to Reach in order to protect it which means we can destroy even more of the vermin's primitive if effective space navy." Resolution said, beginning to connect the dots and see the plan that Juto was coming up with. "Oh that's absolutely devious, destroy a major shipyard and as much of their navy as possible."

"It gets better, imagine how many high-ranking officers are bound to be their when the Fleet of Particular Justice hits Reach?" Juto asked, referring to the fleet under command of Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, a force of three hundred fifty ships of varying types. Almost no force that the vermin had right now would be able to stop it.

Resolution thought about it for maybe a half-unit before he realized what the Grand Imperial Admiral of the Navy was getting at. He cackled as the answer hit him like a _Seraph_ fighter. "A lot of human Fleet Masters, Supreme Commanders, maybe even an Imperial Admiral or two plus Field Masters, Field Marshals, maybe even an Imperial Field Marshal or two if we are lucky. We can absolutely _cripple_ their military leadership! Deprive them of so many military leaders that they will be forced to promote a lot of people into positions who may not be ready for it. We can have The Fleet of Particular Justice can hit the human military command center and kill everyone their. Their military chain of command will be _so_ badly disrupted that it'll be impossible for them to mount a coordinated planetside defense against any other forces we drop on the surface or to coordinate the orbital defense effectively. It should then be fairly easy to finish the humans off like the vermin they are." Resolution said triumphantly, a chance to utterly cripple the military of the heretics as well as destroy their ship-building capability.

"What about these other two worlds? Tribute and Beta Gabriel?" Juto asked curiously.

"Each one will need a fleet, but judging by the lack of orbital guns. Beta Gabriel is unimportant. Probably just a minor colony, we can assign the Fleet of Primal Destiny to Beta Gabriel, they'll have orders to destroy the defense fleet or at least cripple it and cleanse the starports. While we send the Fleet of Eternal Revolution to hit Tribute. The Fleet of Primal Destiny has fifty ships in it, but it's more cruiser heavy then the Fleet of Eternal Revolution is. Meanwhile the The Fleet of Eternal Revolution has sixty ships and is more capital heavy. We can time it so that those two fleets arrive at the same time that the Fleet of Righteous Purpose does. Hit the humans on three fronts, the vermin won't know what hit them." Resolution cackled with glee, here was a chance to utterly break the will that the vermin had to fight.

Juto nodded. "That works quite well, sounds almost like something The Supreme Commander would do. Misdirect your enemy and then while they are reeling from a series of assaults, drop the hammer on them. " he said giving that disconcerting grin again.

The humans had no idea what was coming for them and _wouldn't_ know until it was too late.


End file.
